On the 116th anniversary of the Springfield Race Riot, which devastated the city’s Black community, President Joe Biden designated the site of the tragedy as a national monument.
“We can’t let these things fade,” Biden said before signing the proclamation at a White House ceremony held Aug. 16. He added, “I know this may not seem significant to most Americans, but it’s of great significance. … It can happen again if we don’t take care of and fight for our democracy.”
The two days of racial unrest in 1908 were started by a white lynch mob that went to the Sangamon County Jail to kill two Black men being held there. The mob became enraged upon learning the men had been moved to a jail in Bloomington.
The riot left at least 17 people dead and destroyed about three dozen business which were mostly owned by Black and Jewish people. Dozens of Black-owned homes were wiped out in the violence.
Outrage over the riot occurring in Abraham Lincoln’s hometown sparked the creation of the NAACP.
“Good things can come out of bad things, as long as you don’t forget what happened,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, said following Biden’s remarks in the Oval Office.
The president’s designation will protect around 1.57 acres of land near Madison and 10th streets, which will be managed by the National Park Service. During an excavation in 2014 as part of the Springfield Rail Improvements project, foundations and artifacts from homes destroyed during the riot were uncovered.
An agreement with community members was reached in 2018 to excavate the remains and designate the uncovered site a memorial. Duckworth and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Springfield, first introduced legislation in 2019 to establish the site as a national monument.
A 2020 federal law directed the secretary of the interior to conduct a special resource study of the site and evaluate four criteria that would need to be met: national significance, suitability, feasibility and the need for NPS management. The Park Service received more than 5,000 letters, emails and comments in support of the designation for the site. In June 2023, federal officials acknowledged that the site met all four criteria necessary to be eligible for inclusion in the National Park Service.
“I think today is an incredibly consequential and important day for Springfield, but also for our country, U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Springfield, told Illinois Times. “It is about telling the truth. … This is not unique to Springfield. There were race riots in many other communities in this country. But bringing this story to light, I think, is a really important step forward in telling the full history of Springfield and our country.”
The ceremony held in the Oval Office included Austin Randolph, Springfield NAACP president, and Ken Page, Springfield ACLU president.
"We've made a lot of progress, but we can never stop," Biden said during the bill signing.
The president warned of efforts to "erase" the country's history. Books dealing with race issues have been a target for book bans sought by some conservative groups.
"The new national monument will tell the story of a horrific attack by a white mob on a Black community that was representative of the racism, intimidation and violence that Black Americans experienced across the country," the White House said in a prepared statement released before the ceremony.
Springfield resident Teresa Haley, a past NAACP branch president who long advocated for designation of the site, told IT, “This is American history. This is a deep, dark secret that needed to get out. You know, so many people suppressed this story for years. … We had family members after the 1908 race riots who left Springfield never to return. They said Springfield was the most racist place that they ever lived in. … Now, who wants their hometown to be known for that?
“The race riot took place all because a white woman lied and said that she was raped. And it set our town afire. … They literally went around looking for Black men to torture, to shoot, and hang in a tree as a reminder to the rest of us: ‘Black community, you don't touch our women, and if you get out of line, this is something that can happen to you, too.’ So, it was an awful period here in Springfield, but we know that racism still, still exists here.”
“I think it can increase people's awareness that we have a lot of bad cops out there,” she said. “We have a lot of good cops. When they're good, they're really good. But when they're bad, they're really bad. Sonya Massey's assassination took place, I believe, because she was a Black woman with mental health issues.”
Budzinski said she also hopes something positive sprouts from the recent tragedy.
“I hope what will come out of this is change – change within our community specifically – change and accountability within our local elected offices, specifically the Sheriff's office. (We need) more transparency around hiring processes, training for our law enforcement officers. … I think that there's an opportunity for us after Sonya Massey's murder to actually come out of this like after the 1908 race riots in potentially a stronger position.”
The resource study is available online at bit.ly/raceriotstudy. A video and more information on the site proposal are available on the Springfield NAACP's website at bit.ly/NAACPraceriot.
