NAACP

The Springfield race riot of 1908 consisted of events of mass racial violence committed against African Americans by a mob of about 5,000 white Americans and European immigrants in Springfield, Illinois, between August 14 and 16, 1908. Two black men had been arrested as suspects in a rape, and attempted rape and murder. The alleged victims were two young white women and the father of one of them. When a mob seeking to lynch the men discovered the sheriff had transferred them out of the city, the whites furiously spread out to attack black neighbourhoods, murdered black citizens on the streets, and destroyed black businesses and homes. The state militia was called out to quell the rioting.

The riot, trials and aftermath are said to be one of the most well-documented examples of the complex intersection of race, class, and criminal justice in the United States.

Afterward, the population seemed to show no remorse (not caring) and some people stated that this way of thinking was a good way of keeping blacks “in their place.” In a moving account of the riot, called “Race War in the North” (Sept. 3, 1908), Southern white journalist William English Walling asked that the same spirit of wanting to stop slavery was brought back so that the violent acts of racism are stopped. Fearing that more issues will arise around race relations, white liberals were inspired by the article to join with Blacks in launching the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.