The History Of The Horrific Springfield Race Riot Of 1908

The Horrific Springfield Race Riot of 1908: How Injustice Strengthened the Civil Rights Movement

“[T]wo elderly Black men were lynched and four white men were killed in the midst of a mob motivated by prejudice and hate” (Weisenhofer, 65). On August 14-16, 1908, a race riot broke out in Springfield, Illinois. White Americans and European immigrants of Springfield violently and destructively rioted against the Black population of Springfield. The riot followed the lynching of two Black men after accusations of violence and rape against white people that sent a mob of 5,000 white people into the streets terrorizing 2,000 Black people (Zinn Education Project).

While it could have been viewed as simply another mistreatment of Black people in

The Race Riot caused economic turmoil for the Black community which played a part in the formation of the NAACP. Moreover, the white mob of Springfield specifically targeted Black homes and businesses with Black workers, avoiding any building with white handkerchiefs, symbolizing white ownership of property (Crouthamel, 172). This destruction caused economic struggle in the Black community as the white mob destroyed “[p]roperty valued at more than $150,000 [...] as the mob wrecked almost every building on Washington, Jefferson, and Madison” (Crouthamel, 172), this would be almost 5 million USD in damage today. The Black community suffered the economic loss of homes and jobs after the attempt of the white mob to drive all Black people out of Springfield. The reason for this economic destruction is often pinned on the idea that “whites believed blacks were taking jobs away from them or were driving down wages by taking lower pay”, however, “little interracial job competition existed in Springfield'' (Senechal). Since the economy of Springfield was strong before the riot, there would be no reason for the white mob to believe that Black people were taking their places in jobs, as jobs were quite available to the white population. Furthermore, the white mob, in trying to destroy Black jobs, damaged

The Springfield Riot of 1908 sought to destroy the Black community through fear and displacement however the riots directly led to the formation of the NAACP which only strengthened and unified the community in a larger way. In the Springfield Race Riot (as well as in most race riots against Black people) lynchings were committed by the white mob. While the lynching of two Black men in the Springfield Riot had the primary motive of murder, “often a secondary objective was the externality a lynching produced — to intimidate the victim’s family, community, or ethnic or racial group.” Not only would the lynchings in the Springfield Riot kill 2 innocent Black men, but they would also cause fear in the entire Black community, forcing the community out of Springfield (Merrefield, 11). The white mob also tried displacing the Black community when causing destruction to property. According to Professor of History, Roberta Senchal, “[m]ore than 40 black families [were] displaced when their homes were burned” (Senechal). As the white mob destroyed any shelter for Black people, the Black community had no other option but to flee their community. Essentially, the white rioters wanted to “drive all blacks out of Springfield permanently”(Senechal). This displacement would cause separation of the Black community as well as death in trying