Springfield, Illinois 1908 Race Riot Pamphlet

A brief but thorough descriptions of what happened during the Springfield, Illinois 1908 Race Riot.
For years the 1908 Race Riot was silenced by the lack of information and the lack of concern for what happened. That changed around 1995 when markers were erected to tell what happened. There are now far more interest in what happened. In 2008 during the 100th anniversary statues depicting what happened was placed across from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and this pamphlet was developed to help guide those that wanted to walk the path of the race riot. The Springfield Race Riot of 1908 was a tragic event that dehumanized the lives of African Americans and that horrific event must continue to be told, even when it hurts.
Silencers are narratives that benefit the perpetrators of the action and their descendants and deflect blame from them onto another or simply away from the truth. The Race Riot of 1908 in Springfield Illinois was for a time silenced. The violence began on August 14, 1908 when Mabel Hallam reported to law enforcement that she had been raped and attacked by an African American man. The truth of the matter is Mabel Hallam’s statement was a lie! Mabel’s lie caused White citizens to murder, torture, intimidate, and terrorize African American citizens throughout Springfield. Mabel’s lie caused two African American men to be lynched, and an infant child to die from heat exhaustion while fleeing with her parents for their lives, countless people were beaten, homes and businesses to be looted and destroyed by fire. As noted in the pamphlet by the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau pamphlet on the 1908 Race Riot, 5.5% of Springfield, Illinois population was African American. The very real threat made by the mob caused many of the 5.5 % African American’s citizens of that to leave Springfield, never to return.