President Biden signed a that ensures the Springfield race riots of 1908 are never forgotten by declaring the site a national monument, . In August 1908, a white mob burned, looted and destroyed Black businesses and homes in Springfield, Illinois, and two Black men were lynched. The impetus for the riots was a white woman’s claim that a Black man had raped her; the woman later admitted she lied, .
The men’s deaths galvanized calls for the creation of an organization to fight for racial and political justice, which led to the creation of the . Teresa Haley, the former president of the Springfield chapter of the NAACP, played an integral part in keeping the memory of the Springfield riots alive through the Visions 1908 project. That effort was bolstered in 2014 by the discovery of the foundations of multiple homes that were razed during the riots.
Haley believes President Biden’s recognition of the site as a national landmark will help the community heal. “The people in Springfield can truly begin to heal because it’s been a deep, dark secret that no one wanted to talk about except for those of us in the Black community who were directly impacted by the 1908 riots,” Haley . She also revealed plans to build a physical monument on land that the city donated, which will further preserve the riots’ legacy.
“It’s going to allow people to say, ‘Oh my God, this happened right here in Springfield on the ground in which I’m standing.’” Haley continued, “This .