by Asha Ambasna
A significant event in Black History was the Springfield Riot of August 1908. Located in the midwestern American state of Illinois, Springfield was a unique hub of thriving Black-owned businesses at the turn of the 20th century.
The economic success of Springfield’s Black businesses made the area a target for racism, which led to a campaign by some local white Americans to attempt to turn Springfield into a ‘sundown town.’ Sundown towns were civic regions in which white residents purposely limited the access of Black Americans through various methods of hostility, and in Springfield, this emerged in the form of vicious riots.
The 1908 Springfield riots took place in response to false rape accusations against a Black labourer, George Richardson, from a white resident. The riots lasted for 2 days, and it was estimated that 16 people died, with both Black and white residents killed at the hands of the white mob. Oral accounts from the time reveal the remarkable efforts of Black residents, who tried to protect their community and businesses from destruction.
Whilst memory of the Springfield riots had a lasting impact on many residents, it also led to the creation of a remarkable civil rights organization: the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). After learning of the riots, prominent civil rights activists, including W.E.B Du Bois and Ida B. Wells-Barnett, worked to bring about the NAACP, which played a significant role in advancing many civil rights causes and continues to lead the fight against racial inequality today.
The Springfield riot remains little known, yet it sparked one of the most important activist groups in modern Black history. These events must be kept alive in public memory as examples of outstanding community mobilisation and resilience.