Race riot site added to African American Civil Rights Network

The site of the 1908 Springfield Race Riot was added to the National Park Service’s African American Civil Rights Network on Thursday morning, moving it one step closer to achieving long-sought national historic monument status.

The declaration was signed by U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt in front of a cadre of local, state and federal officials at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in downtown Springfield.

It is the 30th site to achieve such a designation, which includes sites associated with the civil rights movement in the United States, such as the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail in Alabama and the Pullman National Monument in Chicago.

“The African American Civil Rights Network ... was signed into law very recently and it really came about as recognition that in too many places across the country, precious historic waypoints that were on the route to the civil rights movement were being forgotten,” Bernhardt said. “And those untold stories were at risk of not being remembered. And with that enactment came the hope that the designation of the sites would honestly tell the full and sometimes painful story of the struggle of civil rights to foster healing, tolerance and understanding among all Americans.”

Though the home of Abraham Lincoln and the place where Barack Obama launched his successful bid to become the first African American president in U.S. history, Springfield’s legacy on race has long been clouded by the riot.

During two days of rioting, two African Americans were lynched and five whites died after being shot, according to the Sangamon County Historical Society. There was also widespread property damage.

The riot was viewed as a catalyst for the formation of the NAACP.

Teresa Haley, the president of the state and Springfield branches of the NAACP, said Thursday’s action was “another step ... leading towards making that dream (of a national monument) become a reality.”

The race riot site, long buried near the 10th Street rail tracks and Madison Street, was unearthed in 2014 during construction of the multimillion-dollar project that will consolidate train traffic from the Third Street rail corridor to 10th Street.

Later, an archaeological team found seven homes, five of which were burned during the riot, as well as artifacts from a mid-1800s immigrant neighborhood.

An Interior Department review completed last year found the 1908 Springfield Race Riot site suitable for designation as a national historic monument.

With that preliminary assessment complete, legislation has been introduced in Congress to authorize a study that could eventually lead to the national historic monument designation.

The legislation has been moved out of committee and awaits a vote on the floor of the U.S. House. It would then need to be approved by the Senate and signed by the president.

“The events at this site, like others, will serve to recognize that racial injustice is not an isolated issue only to the South, but one to be addressed across this great country,” said U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville. “I'm grateful for the opportunity to continue to move forward. We must preserve and protect what we found here in Springfield.”

The memorial, as envisioned, would cost about $5 million to complete. Most of the money would likely be raised through a fundraising and grant-writing campaign, with the city of Springfield contributing some funds as well.

Haley said the civil rights group hopes to have a monument open by 2025, when the rail project is scheduled for completion.

Contact Brenden Moore: bmoore@sj-r.com, twitter.com/brendenmoore13.