President Biden signed a proclamation Friday to establish the Springfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument in Illinois at the site of a deadly attack by a White mob on a Black community 116 years ago.
By establishing the monument, the White House says the president is recognizing the resilience of the Black community in the face of violent oppression, “at a time when some are working to rewrite history and erase painful moments in our past.” The monument site is dotted with historical objects, including five charred homes that were never rebuilt. Mr. Biden’s order will protect one-and-a-half acres of federal land in Springfield, mere blocks from the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, where Abraham Lincoln lived before becoming president.
In the Oval Office Friday, the president said there are some who would prefer to erase history, and Americans can’t let that happen.
“We have no safe harbor, unless we continue to remind people what happened,” Mr. Biden said, surrounded by civil rights activists. “We can’t let these things fade.”
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
The designation comes after Congress failed to pass legislation designating the site a national monument. It also falls against the backdrop of the recent fatal shooting of Sonya Massey, an unarmed Black woman, in Springfield by an Illinois sheriff’s deputy who now faces murder charges.
The Springfield race riot began in August 1908, after two Black men — 7-year-old Joe James and 36-year-old George Richardson — were held in jail based solely on the claims of White accusers.
On Aug. 14, 1908, a crowd of about 5,000 young, mostly White men demanded that the two Black men be released so they could be lynched. When James and Richardson were moved to another jail over fear of violence, the mob began to loot and burn Black-owned businesses and homes, and assaulted residents. By the time the riot was mostly managed on Aug. 16, two Black men — William Donnegan and Scott Burton — had been lynched by the mob. The riot also forced Black families out of their homes and out of Springfield.
James was tried, convicted and hanged for murder, while Richardson was set free when his accuser recanted her story of sexual assault.
The riot sparked outrage and prompted the founding of the NAACP. Between 1882 and 1910, the Biden administration says there were 2,503 recorded lynchings of Black people in the U.S.
The monument will be managed by the National Park Service. The Biden administration says the service will work with the community on creating a learning experience for visitors.
“We can give hate no safe harbor,” Mr. Biden said Friday.