Biden to designate 1908 Springfield race riot site as national monument
President Joe Biden is set to sign an order designating the 1908 Springfield, Illinois, race riot site a national monument. This comes 5 1/2 weeks after Sonya Massey, a Black woman, was shot by a white sheriff鈥檚 deputy in her home in Springfield after she called 911 for help.
"Acts of Intolerance," by Preston Jackson, is the name of the centennial memorial for the 1908 race riot in Springfield, Illinois. The memorial features sculptures of charred chimneys rising from burned-out buildings, March 22, 2023. President Joe Biden is set to sign an order designating a new national monument to commemorate the 1908 event.
John O鈥機onnor/AP
Springfield, Ill.
President Joe Biden is set to sign a proclamation Aug. 16 to designate a national monument at the Springfield, Illinois, site of a 1908 race riot, which later fueled the formation of the NAACP.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a briefing with reporters on Aug. 14 that the ceremony will be held Aug. 16 in the Oval Office and will feature civil rights leaders and community leaders from Springfield, President Abraham Lincoln鈥檚 hometown.
The ceremony comes just 5 1/2 weeks after the shooting death of Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman, by a white sheriff鈥檚 deputy in her Springfield home after she called 911 for help. Ms. Massey鈥檚 family members and supporters gathered Aug. 14 for a news conference in a continuing quest to see that justice is done in prosecuting the deputy, Sean Grayson, who is charged with first-degree murder in her death.
鈥淧eople are starting to take notice because it is an untold story,鈥� Teresa Haley, former president of the Springfield NAACP, said of the riot. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a deep, dark, dirty secret that Springfield is scared of.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 tragic. It鈥檚 unfortunate that it comes on the heels of Sonya Massey, but let鈥檚 say her name 鈥� Sonya Massey 鈥� and if it takes the president, the vice president, and everyone else to recognize that and make this happen, it鈥檚 about time,鈥� continued Ms. Haley, the聽 founder of Visions 1908, a civil rights, social and economic justice, and educational advocacy group.
The designation by Mr. Biden doesn鈥檛 create a marker, although a memorial for the centennial stands in downtown鈥檚 Union Square Park. But Ms. Haley has been pushing a large, reflective, walk-through memorial on the site of the foundations of five of the original homes burned in the riots that were unearthed during railroad work in 2014. That project awaits funding.
In August 1908, mobs of white residents tore through Illinois鈥� capital city under the pretext of meting out judgment against two Black men 鈥� one jailed on a sexual assault charge involving a white woman, and the other jailed in the separate murder of a white man.
After authorities secretly moved the prisoners from the jail and sent them to another lockup miles away, the mob took out their anger on the city鈥檚 Black population. Over the next few days, two innocent Black men were hanged, dozens of homes and businesses in Springfield鈥檚 majority-Black neighborhoods were burned to the ground, and families were forced to flee.
The National Guard was called in to restore order. White rioters were charged, but later acquitted for their roles in the lynching and destruction.
At least eight white people were killed in the violence and more than 100 were injured, mostly by members of the state鈥檚 militia or each other, according to news articles from that period. It鈥檚 not known how many Black people were injured and killed.
Fed-up civil rights leaders met in New York and chose the centennial of Lincoln鈥檚 birthday, Feb. 12, 1909, to form the NAACP, whose original board included scholar W.E.B. DuBois.
Sontae Massey, who was very close to his cousin Ms. Massey, said the family is descended from William Donegan, an 84-year-old cobbler, married to a white woman, who was lynched the first night of the riot. Now, the current generation is dealing with the tragic loss of another family member.
鈥淚t鈥檚 ironic that we are now at the very foundation of what this family has stood for for hundreds of years. We will continue to make change across America. This is just the beginning,鈥� Mr. Massey said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 appropriate. We have been the catalysts of change since 1908. We鈥檙e continuing the tradition.鈥�
The Springfield attack came more than a decade before at least 25 documented attacks by white people against Black people during the summer of 1919, later called 鈥淩ed Summer鈥� for the bloodshed.
Two years later, a white mob looted and burned Tulsa鈥檚 Greenwood district, killing as many as 300 Black residents. Mr. Biden traveled to Tulsa in 2021 to mark the 100th anniversary of the massacre.
Ms. Jean-Pierre called the Springfield riot a 鈥渉orrific attack by a white mob on a Black community鈥� and said that civil rights leaders have worked to highlight what occurred 鈥渢o spark national action on civil rights.鈥� She promised that the White House would provide further details ahead of the official announcement on Aug. 16.
In 2020, the site of the riot near downtown Springfield was added to the National Park Service鈥檚 African American Civil Rights Network, a collection of places and programs that outline the history of the Civil Rights Movement. Federal grants are available for the sites.
鈥淲hile the 1908 Springfield race riot demonstrates our nation鈥檚 deep history of racial violence, it also sparked the creation of the NAACP 鈥� reflecting the strength and resilience of Black Americans in the tireless fight for civil rights,鈥� said U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski, whose office said she urged Biden to designate the monument. 鈥淭oday鈥檚 announcement is a critical step forward to honor those who were killed in the 1908 attack and acknowledge the impact this tragedy had.鈥�
This story was reported by The Associated Press.聽Darlene Superville reported from Washington.