Springfield, Illinois Race Riot – 1908
Abraham Lincoln left Springfield, Illinois in 1861 on train to become the sixteenth President of the United States. Since the end of the Civil War and Lincoln’s interment, Springfield had developed into a bustling central Illinois town. Continuing a theme seen in previous race riots, two blacks were arrested for alleged crimes against white women. To protect the black men, city officials moved the men out of the city jail.
When an angry mob of whites stormed the jail to lynch the two black men on September 22, 1908, the mob found that they were gone. The angry white mob began attacking black homes, churches, and businesses.
As reported in a St. Louis newspaper, white mobs entered the homes of black families throughout Springfield, forcefully took them out of their homes, and put them onto train boxcars. For black men and women that refused to leave their homes, the white mob set the home on fire blocking doors and windows to prevent escape. For those forced onto train cars, they were shipped to St. Louis, Missouri with no money, clothing, or personal property. Upon their arrival in St. Louis, they were kicked off of the trains to fend for themselves in a new city.
The violence that ensued during the Springfield race riot demanded action. In St. Louis, middle-class African Americans formed an agency to assist the new arrivals with finding homes and jobs. This agency eventually became the Urban League of St. Louis. Tired and fearful of more mob violence, civil rights activists formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, whose mission was to advocate for justice and equality through legal challenges and to fight for a national anti-lynching law.