Park Archives: Springfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument

Between August 14-16, 1908, Black Americans were targeted and victimized by a large White mob in Springfield, Illinois. The mob, consisting of thousands of White residents, destroyed Black homes and businesses, and lynched two Black men. It also targeted businesses owned by Jewish Americans and other White residents sympathetic to the Black community. Black businesses suffered damages estimated at $100,000 in 1908 dollars, the equivalent of over $3 million today. After nearly three days of violence, the state militia helped to restore order and approximately 150 participants were arrested. However, few were ever convicted of a crime.

The 1908 Springfield Race Riot was one of many late 19th and early 20th-century race riots. These were large racial terror events in which White mobs violently targeted Black communities across the country. The Springfield riot erupted after two Black men were accused of the murder and sexual assault of White residents. Scant evidence backed these accusations (the sexual assault accusation was later withdrawn). As with many other race riots of this era, the accusations served as a pretext to force Black residents from their communities.

The riot was widely covered by the local and national press. Springfield captured national attention because it took place in Abraham Lincoln’s hometown. It highlighted how little progress had been made in race relations a century after Lincoln’s birth. The riot also caught the attention of prominent civil rights activists like William English Walling, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Mary White Ovington. It was a catalyst for the establishment of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.

Springfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument is also significant because of its archeological resources. The foundations of five homes and related artifacts show how residents lived in the predominately Black neighborhood called the “Badlands.” The site is very near where the riot started. Archeological evidence shows the buildings burned in the riot and never reoccupied. The site is a rare surviving resource directly associated with race riots in America.

The following visual bibliography is just a sampling of the handbooks and books which have been published for this park. NPSHistory.com does not endorse these, but are merely presenting them for informational purposes only. As most are copyrighted, we are only able to provide the covers, and not contents, of these publications.

cover only

The Sociogenesis of a Race Riot: Springfield, Illinois, in 1908
Roberta Senechal
1990

cover only

Summer of Rage: The Springfield Race Riot of 19088
James Krohe, Jr.
1996

cover only

In Lincoln's Shadow: The 1908 Race Riot in Springfield, Illinois
Roberta Senechal de la Roche
2008