Ian Brickey, ian.brickey@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Biden dedicated the site of the 1908 Springfield Race Riot as the country’s newest national monument. The new monument commemorates the August 1908 race riot, in which a white supremacist mob violently attacked Springfield’s black community, ransacking black neighborhoods and attacking and killing black residents. The mob violence inspired Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s famous speech, “Lynching, Our National Crime,” and helped catalyze the creation of the NAACP in early 1909.
The Springfield community has worked for years to protect the site as a national monument. Earlier this year, more than 30 local organizations joined the Springfield NAACP and other community and national leaders in support of this proposal.
The new monument is the sixth designated by Biden during his presidency. The others include Camp Hale — Continental Divide in Colorado, Castner Range in Texas, Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada, Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley in Illinois and Mississippi, and Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The designation also follows the death of Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman who was shot and killed by an Illinois sheriff in her Springfield home last month.
In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous released the following statement:
“Our public lands tell a story, and this newest national monument finally adds this long-overlooked chapter. For more than a century, we ignored the memory of one of the worst episodes of racial violence in our country’s history, just steps from the home of Abraham Lincoln, but the Springfield community never forgot. Today, their resilience is not just recognized, but honored.
“Less than a quarter of our national monuments focus on commemorating the history of diverse peoples, movements, and cultures. Designating the site of the 1908 Springfield Race Riot as a national monument helps ensure that national monuments protect not just the most precious lands and waters of the United States, but the sites and legacies that make this country what it is.
“The fires that burned in Springfield in 1908 could have destroyed this community, but it has endured. It is an incredibly American story, and it shows not just how far we have come as a nation, but the work that still needs to be done.”
In response, Nick Dodson, Sangamon Valley Sierra Club Group Chair, released the following statement:
“The 1908 Springfield Race Riot was one of the worst instances of racist violence in our country’s history, it is an event we must commemorate. Designating this site as our newest national monument will ensure that generations to come remember not just the riot, but the resilience of the Black community that has endured. We in the Springfield community thank President Biden for this designation and hope it can memorialize this history and encourage healing.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.