President Joe Biden signed a proclamation on Friday, Aug. 16, designating a national monument at the site of the 1908 race riot in Springfield, Illinois, 116 years to the day of the tragedy. The proclamation dedicates more than 1.5 acres of public land for the monument.
During the ceremonial signing in the Oval Office, President Biden marked the historic violence that unfolded in former President Abraham Lincoln’s hometown on Aug. 16, 1908. During the riot, several Black residents were killed, and dozens of Black homes and businesses were destroyed by a white mob.
The events unfolded after two incidents. First, a Black man was accused of killing a white man. Tensions grew, when a month later, another Black man was accused of raping a white woman. The alleged rape victim later admitted that she lied about the rape to coverup an extramarital affair she was having with a white man.
The accusations would prompt thousands of rioters to rampage through Springfield in search of the two Black men who had been jailed. The attackers were eventually stopped by Illinois militiamen after they were ordered to intervene.
Outrage over the violence led to the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 2023, the group asked President Biden to recognize the two-acre site. This led to a National Park Service study of homes burned during the 1908 riot and other remaining structures from the attack.
Biden’s authority to designate the land comes from the 1906 Antiquities Act, which most recently has been used to create national monuments on public land. This is Biden’s second time using the act to preserve a site crucial to the Civil Rights Movement. Last year, he established the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument.
The president’s proclamation also comes six weeks after the deadly police shooting of 36-year-old Sonya Massey, a Springfield resident.
“Sonya’s death at the hands of a responding officer reminds us that all too often Black Americans face fears for their safety in ways many of the rest of us do not,” Biden said in a statement. “Sonya’s family deserves justice.”
