Exploring the history of American lynching from Chicago to New Orleans, the Citizens Club of Springfield recently presented an account of racism and murder spanning the country, including the 1908 Race Riot in Springfield.
In the United States, racism has evolved and changed with time, yet the same actions, attitudes and views are still present today in communities around the country, said speaker Timothy Good, former superintendent of the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield. Even though a noose is a rare sight compared to 100 years ago, vestiges are still perceptible through monuments and commemorations in some unlikely places.
Good presented an analysis of how even with the progressive attitudes and actions of then-President Abraham Lincoln toward Black people, the culture of racism prospered after his death. Laying out a history of violence where inaction against racism led to the unjust killing of African Americans, Good shows through historical examples how complicity or inaction to fight racism leads to the same consequences.
One example was the lack of action from President Andrew Johnson in response to the 1866 Memphis massacre of Black Americans by a white mob. Another was the New Orleans attack on politically organizing Black party members the same year.
However, one of the most infamous yet sparsely covered events came in 1908, just one year before the 100-year anniversary of Lincoln’s birth in 1809 and led to the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Good said while there is no account of how many Black people were killed during the 1908 Race Riot, at least two were lynched.
The riot also had a significant regional impact on central Illinois, with African Americans fleeing the city and surrounding towns by train or by foot. Victims fled north to Chicago and south to St. Louis, with one reporter at the St. Louis train station recording the events of beaten Blacks exiting the trains still injured from the attacks.
“A train pulled up from Springfield and black Americans flooded off…men, women, children and they were still bleeding,” Good told the Citizens Club audience during the March 28 program. “How wounded must they have been in Springfield to take a train trip to St. Louis and they’re still bleeding when they’re getting off the train. … But that was where they had family, friends that were going there. We had one account that suggested they even went as far as New Orleans to escape Springfield. This becomes a regional attack going to Bloomington, Chicago, trying to escape Springfield.”
Good described other violent events like the Red Summer of 1919 or the Elaine massacre the same year in Phillips County, Arkansas, which saw 200 Black Americans killed when the U.S. Army was dispatched to quell riots. There, U.S. soldiers began gunning down Black families with the same machine guns Black veterans used to fight the Germans in World War I.
Good said there is a common reluctance to record this history and educate future generations about the effects. Good said that even though there were countless people at these lynchings, finding information, especially on the 1908 Springfield race riots, is difficult.
After Good’s presentation, he was joined by additional guests to speak and answer questions on the topic. They were Austin Randolph, president of Springfield’s NAACP branch; Erica Austin, vice president of the Springfield School Board; and Kathryn Harris, former board member of the African American History Museum of Central Illinois.
Each speaker answered questions from the audience, but the consensus was that solutions are found in properly recording history, even the parts hard to face, and educating each other to keep these events from repeating themselves.
“We have been through trauma, hatred, love, discrimination and I can go on,” said Randolph. “History is repeating itself and we must do something about it. We must educate all communities, we need to solve the problem, we need to come together. That is why the NAACP was started, and we cannot forget not only our history but the significant event of 1908.”
Austin discussed initiatives some teachers are making to cover these sensitive topics in schools, to help children understand the history of their city, state, and country.
“For something as significant as this event in our own hometown and it is not taught in our schools is not a good thing,” Austin said. “I tell the kids all the time, you have a rich history, and once they begin to understand their history, they begin to understand what happened, their behavior shifted, their actions shifted, their mindset shifted.”
Randolph spoke to a few lingering participants after the meeting and highlighted the importance of simply recording history for future generations to appreciate.
“I’m glad journalists are here to record this event. Because that’s more important than anything… recording history,” said Randolph. “Because if it’s nothing documented, it’s lost. The more people are aware that can make sure things happen and make sure other negative things don’t happen.”
Logan Bricker is a master’s degree student in the UIS Public Affairs Reporting program working this semester as an intern for Illinois Times.
This article appears in Young offenders in Illinois still serving life sentences.
