Today Pres. Biden will sign a proclamation creating a national monument in Springfield, Illinois in remembrance of the Springfield Race Riot.
On August 16, 2024, Pres. Biden signed a proclamation creating a national monument in Springfield, Ill. In remembrance of the Springfield Race Riot of 1908. Springfield at the turn of the century was a typical mid-sized northern city. It was not remarkable for its race relations. There were three common factors with other northern cities that made it a tenderbox ready to explode given the right spark. The population was only about 7% black. A small percentage of that group were middle class. Many of those families tried to assimilate into white society and not rock the boat. These families were going to find out that being “Uncle Toms” did not make you safe. Whites resented the upward mobility of blacks and did not like them living in white neighborhoods. Another aggravating factor was white businessmen encouraged blacks to migrate to Springfield to take the place of higher wage white workers. In some cases, the blacks were strikebreakers. There was anger among many whites concerning the small gains made by blacks politically. White newspapers set the table with sensational stories using words like “brute”, “menace”, “beast”, “rapist”, and “fiend” to describe black males.
On August 14, 1908, the killing a popular white railwayman and the supposed rape of a white woman put two black men in the jail. The murder was attributed to a Joe James, a young black man who had recently come to town. A white woman, 21-year-old Mabel Hallem told police that she had been dragged out of her house and raped by a black man. She identified George Richardson, a construction worker who had been working on a house nearby. When she fingered him, he insisted he was innocent. Mabel told him he would have to prove he was not the rapist. (That remark was cogent because “guilty unless proved innocent” was the rule in justice for blacks in the South and parts of the North). It did not help that he was incorrectly reported as having a violent criminal past. A large mob gathered at the jail demanding the two be delivered for lynching. When they found out that the police had snuck the duo out the back and drove them to another city, the mob targeted the business of the white man who had loaned his car to the cops. They trashed his restaurant and burned his car. They then moved on to the small black business district. Looting black saloons fueled the crowd. They then moved on to the black part of town, known as “The Badlands”. The area was subject to a lot of arson. Most blacks had already had escaped, but 65 year old Scott Burton, a black barbershop owner whose clientele was whites, stayed to protect his home. He fired a shot over the group trying to get into his home. He was dragged out, brutalized, and lynched. Children were in the crowd. Some pushed the dangling body around.
Daylight brought calm, but nightfall brought more racists out. They marched on the arsenal where many blacks had taken refuge. Thankfully, ational Guardsmen met them with bayonets and the crowd moved on. Some went to a white, middle class neighborhood that had a few, unwelcome black homes. White homeowners put clothing associated with whites in their windows so arsonists and looters would pass them by. Some enraged whites targeted Abraham Lincoln’s home because he was associated with black rights, but a relative prevented them from doing anything to the historic structure. 80-year-old William Donnegan had been a friend of Lincoln. He had encouraged southern blacks to move to Springfield for better lives. He was wealthy and had lived in Springfield for decades. He had a white wife which antagonized whites. He had his neck slashed and he was hung but not high enough to get his feet off the ground. (People cut strips off the tree as souvenirs.) He was cut down by the police when they dispersed the mob, but he died later.
By August 16, the National Guard had the city under some control, but for the rest of month and into September, small groups of whites did hit and run attacks on blacks. In the week after, 10,000 tourists visited the city to see the damage and for that racist vibe. At least 8 blacks were killed and 5 whites (two were shot by guardsmen). The riot was a contributing cause for the creation of the NAACP in 1909. Would it surprise you to learn that two weeks after the riot, Mabel Hallem admitted she had lied?
https://www.lib.niu.edu/1996/iht329622.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield_race_riot_of_1908
https://presidentlincoln.illinois.gov/Resources/310ee587-5442-444c-8165-7916f8903c85/springfield-race-riot-catalog.pdf
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