The Horrific Springfield Race Riot of 1908: How Injustice Strengthened the Civil Rights Movement
“[T]wo elderly Black men were lynched and four white men were killed in the midst of a mob motivated by prejudice and hate” (Weisenhofer, 65). On August 14-16, 1908, a race riot broke out in Springfield, Illinois. White Americans and European immigrants of Springfield violently and destructively rioted against the Black population of Springfield. The riot followed the lynching of two Black men after accusations of violence and rape against white people that sent a mob of 5,000 white people into the streets terrorizing 2,000 Black people (Zinn Education Project).
While it could have been viewed as simply another mistreatment of Black people in
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The Race Riot caused economic turmoil for the Black community which played a part in the formation of the NAACP. Moreover, the white mob of Springfield specifically targeted Black homes and businesses with Black workers, avoiding any building with white handkerchiefs, symbolizing white ownership of property (Crouthamel, 172). This destruction caused economic struggle in the Black community as the white mob destroyed “[p]roperty valued at more than $150,000 [...] as the mob wrecked almost every building on Washington, Jefferson, and Madison” (Crouthamel, 172), this would be almost 5 million USD in damage today. The Black community suffered the economic loss of homes and jobs after the attempt of the white mob to drive all Black people out of Springfield. The reason for this economic destruction is often pinned on the idea that “whites believed blacks were taking jobs away from them or were driving down wages by taking lower pay”, however, “little interracial job competition existed in Springfield'' (Senechal). Since the economy of Springfield was strong before the riot, there would be no reason for the white mob to believe that Black people were taking their places in jobs, as jobs were quite available to the white population. Furthermore, the white mob, in trying to destroy Black jobs, damaged …show more content…
The Springfield Riot of 1908 sought to destroy the Black community through fear and displacement however the riots directly led to the formation of the NAACP which only strengthened and unified the community in a larger way. In the Springfield Race Riot (as well as in most race riots against Black people) lynchings were committed by the white mob. While the lynching of two Black men in the Springfield Riot had the primary motive of murder, “often a secondary objective was the externality a lynching produced — to intimidate the victim’s family, community, or ethnic or racial group.” Not only would the lynchings in the Springfield Riot kill 2 innocent Black men, but they would also cause fear in the entire Black community, forcing the community out of Springfield (Merrefield, 11). The white mob also tried displacing the Black community when causing destruction to property. According to Professor of History, Roberta Senchal, “[m]ore than 40 black families [were] displaced when their homes were burned” (Senechal). As the white mob destroyed any shelter for Black people, the Black community had no other option but to flee their community. Essentially, the white rioters wanted to “drive all blacks out of Springfield permanently”(Senechal). This displacement would cause separation of the Black community as well as death in trying
The cry has also been associated with various effects, and this is because the lynch law was being implemented at any time wherever the concerns was linked to the Afro-Americans. The fourth chapter of the book is “the malicious and untruthful white press.” This is a chapter of the book that covers how the white press was spreading lies about the Afro-Americans at the time.
The Tulsa Race Riot was the destruction of Black Wall Street in 1921, which was caused by an allegation of a white woman accusing a black man of rape. It lasted from May 31st to June 1st. The Tulsa Race Riot caused plenty of damage from “dozens of deaths [and] hundreds of injuries” to the destruction of Black Wall Street leading to unemployment of the black community (Hoberock n. pag.). An estimated property loss was over $2.3 million. This was an important event in our Nation’s history because “it teaches how far hatred [and violence] can go” (Hoberock n. pag.).
When the businesses were being burned down, they only targeted the businesses of the African American community. They did not burn down the other businesses ran by whites that were challenging their success. They did not challenge the businesses of the whites because that is not who they had put the blame on, they had victimized the African Americans simply because of their skin
Hundreds of homes are torched as blacks are lynched from telephone poles. When the police and the National Guard are called out to stop the riot, most of them stand by and watch and some even join the mobs. Most of the rioters are laborers who are filled with hatred and resentment toward the blacks over the fierce job competition as thousands have been brought up from the South by large companies to replace white workers who have left the assembly line for a picket line. This race riot is the worst incidence of labor-related violence in 20th century America. It is also one of the worst race riots in American history.
It is said in, “The Blood of Emmett Till” that between 1946 and 1953 in Chicago, if a black moved into an all-white neighborhood the “alarmed white residents would quickly sell their homes,” again treating the blacks as if they were some kind of disease, in fear of losing power. This isn’t even the worst thing they had done, the southern whites were so threatened by the blacks and so corrupted with power that they would form mobs and try to make people move out of their homes. Tyson tells us in, “The Blood of Emmett Till,” that on August 9th, 1953, a few days after Betty and Donald Howard moved into the all-white neighborhood of Trumbull Park Homes, “a mob of two thousand angry whites was throwing bricks and fire bombs...” at the Howard’s home trying to scare them into
The Red Summer was an extremely violent and significant movement in America’s history, and it intensified racial tensions significantly in Chicago. “Drawn by the promise of employment and dignity, Chicago's black population more than doubled from 1916 to 1918” (Armstrong, 2016). This resulted in multiple instances of competition for jobs and housing, creating lots of tension between black and white people. Whites tried to prove their superiority in each neighborhood and created race riots that were the “...most severe of approximately 251 race riots throughout the U.S. in the ‘Red Summer’ (meaning “bloody”) following World War I; a manifestation of racial frictions intensified by large-scale African American migration to the North, industrial
Olivia Rocha Robert Hines History 1301 August 2, 2023 Activism Provoking Change for Black Americans Once the ending of slavery took place in 1865, a new epidemic struck Black Americans, lynching. Lynching is when white mobs capture these black individuals and then commit brutal tortures and death on these victims. It did not matter if you were a Black woman, a Black child, or an innocent Black man, they were all victims of this disparity. These actions were either hushed away by the white people or were not counteracted with justice because those who interfered could also be lynched.
This riot was a little different than the ones that took place in 1919. “Unlike the riots of 1919, Negroes now began to destroy the hated white property and symbols of authority”. The blacks got very violent, but the whites also started to get even more violent. “Unhampered by the police, the mobs attacked all Negroes caught outside the ghetto. They stopped, overturned, and burned cars driven by Negroes”.
The increased migration of African-Americans to northern cities because of the decline in agricultural opportunities in the South and later for the war effort caused increased racial tension and riots as the black population had more of a presence in the close proximity of the urban environment. The worst riot during the war was in Detroit during the summer of 1943 where a fight broke out in Belle Isle Park between black and white men. Rumors of the fight and of rape spread and with it the riot did as well lasting for four days with 25 African-Americans and 5 whites dead and two million dollars of property damage occurring. Riots were obviously terrible occurrences but by occurring during war time when the government was most aware of domestic discontent that could harm the war effort, the riots acted as
Some Germans could afford to set up shops. Many of the new workers were upset with the local African American populations, because they believed they were taking their jobs. This source of tension created riots, which caused the deaths of many African Americans.
A big cause of the massacre was Suprity, which at the time whites had. According to Document C it shows that there were racial violence and lynching of the red summer during November 1919. Whites had a lot of power over the blacks. Whites could see that blacks were growing wealthy and started to have the same stuff they had, and whites didn’t like it. Many whites would go through homes and take stuff, destroy things as well as burn buildings to the ground.
This violent act set off a chain of events, with widespread mob violence, targeted attacks against African Americans, and the destruction of homes and businesses. The attack on the convention and the subsequent violence can be seen as precipitating factors that escalated existing tensions into full-scale collective violence. These incidents activated preexisting beliefs, grievances, and frustrations, and led to the mobilization of individuals and groups towards violent actions.
In SQ1-B it states, “Under this racist belief system, white were hard-working, smart, and morally advanced, while black people were dumb, lazy, childlike, and uncivilized” (SQ1-B). According to the Equal Justice Initiative, it became rooted in the minds of individuals, laws, and institutions. This led to the idea being perpetuated throughout history and into the ideas of the communities in Tulsa. Document SQ1-C is a map depicting the lynchings and race riots across America in 1919. Using this map, it can be seen that 25 race riots and lynchings occurred between the spring and fall of 1919.
The Impact of the Detroit Race Riot on Society Just imagine you are in the streets of Detroit in 1967. There are fires blazing all around you, people are being shot ruthlessly and police are using heavy force to stop the rioters. That is how the people of Detroit felt during one of the most deadly events in Detroit history. Some people even thought it was the start of a second revolution, This is a quote from Jeffrey Eugenides. “ In Detroit, in July of 1967,what happened was no less than a guerrilla uprising.
Lemuel Walters’s death was a clear example of this accion. He was a black man that was accused of raping a white women and he was found dead in mistery conditions, they said that Lemuel’s action was a romance and the dead of Lemuel was the result of a lynching. Also the article talk about how african americans fight for their rights. David F. Krugler book “1919, The Year of Racial Violence: How African Americans Fought Back” met the the action such as Jones and David, who fight the white people that were against the african americans through legal actions. This article have events that are good to read and know.