Springfield, Illinois Riot of 1908

Through it all, Springfield’s black residents continued to push forward and attempted to rebuild the black community. But the city’s black leaders encountered great difficulties in convincing other blacks that Springfield was a good place to live. Unfortunately, segregation and memories of the riot atrocities eventually would take their toll. Before the riot, Springfield’s black community was second only to Chicago’s black community in population and had one of the fastest-growing black communities in the state. By 1920, Springfield’s black population had significantly decreased to levels lower than its 1900 and 1910 population totals. Conversely, Springfield’s white community forged ahead with repairing the city’s name and preparing for the centennial celebration of Springfield’s favorite son, Abraham Lincoln. February 12, 1909, would mark the 100th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth. Locally, many perceived that Springfield’s white leadership had fixed the problems associated with the riot, and heaped praise on those white leaders for their immediate calls to action, although no one had been convicted for serious riot offenses. Nationally, many whites applauded the work of the mob and approved of the outcomes. In contrast, many whites across the country were disgusted by the Springfield riots. Prominent among them was New York socialist and social worker Mary White Ovington. After reading William English Walling’s article on the riot, Ovington wanted to prevent further senseless attacks on black communities across the nation. Ovington, along with prominent whites and blacks such as W.E.B. Du Bois, met in New York and formed the National Negro Committee, which ultimately changed its name to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

From the riot aftermath, one can clearly deduce that Springfield’s white community blamed the black community for the riot. Most white residents believed that crimes perpetrated by blacks toward whites had gone too far, and the mob’s work was justifiable in preventing further black-on-white crime. However, the true reasons for rioting went beyond black criminal activity or, as some scholars believe, the migration of blacks from the south to the north in search of white men’s jobs. Actually, the progressive advancement of Springfield’s blacks educationally, politically, and economically caused many white residents to express feelings of hatred and resentment toward blacks. Springfield’s whites felt that the city’s blacks had stepped out of their proper societal place by reaching a certain level of affluence within the community. The acquittal of the riot participants, regardless of the crime, and the increased segregation was a message to Springfield’s black community that whites were still in control.