UP IN FLAMES is a fictional story surrounding the actual race riots that occured in East St. Louis on July 2, 1917. Bands of angry white men, women and children, lynched, burned and shot Black people, holding the south-end of town under siege. The documented total that were killed were nine whites and thirty-nine Blacks. Recently released reports state the totals were ten times that amount. The nights and days following, scores of Blacks crossed bridges that led into St. Louis, Missouri. Most would never return. East St. Louis, as it is known today, never fully recovered.