SR0827 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0827 LRB095 21909 KXB 52176 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, One hundred years ago, Springfield, Illinois was familiar to people as the home of the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln; but on August 14, 1908, the city would enter the history books as the home of a terrible race riot; and

WHEREAS, According to a May 31, 2008 article in the State Journal-Register and other sources familiar with the events of the race riot, at the turn of the century racial tensions were high in the city because of the use of black workers as scabs labor during strikes; and

WHEREAS, On July 4, 1908, Clergy Ballard awoke to find a man standing near his daughter's bed; the intruder fled and Ballard gave chase; after catching up with the intruder, Ballard's throat was slashed with a straight razor; before he died, Ballard identified the assailant as Joe James, a black man with a long record of minor crimes; and

WHEREAS, White citizens of the town were enraged by the crime, thinking that the murder was the result of a thwarted sexual assault of a white woman by a black man; a crowd of whites caught James and beat him unconscious; the police rescued James, arrested him, and locked him in the city jail; and

WHEREAS, On Friday, August 14 of that same year, the local newspaper ran the story of a white woman, Mabel Hallam, who had allegedly been raped by a local black man, George Richardson; Hallam, the 21-year-old wife of a well-known streetcar conductor, claimed that the black caretaker had dragged her out of bed and assaulted her the night before; police arrested Richardson and took him to the city jail; and

WHEREAS, That evening, a crowd of white citizens gathered in downtown Springfield, outraged by the fact that two black men had allegedly committed brutal crimes against white townspeople; the crowd demanded the release of the prisoners, but Sheriff Charles Werner was able to remove the two from jail and transport them to safety in nearby Bloomington, with the help of restaurant owner Harry Loper; when the crowd learned that Loper had aided in the transport of the two black men, they walked to his restaurant, trashed the building, and torched his expensive automobile; and

WHEREAS, Later that evening, Governor Charles S. Deneen activated the State militia; the crowd directed their anger toward the rest of Springfield's minorities; they proceeded to Fishman's Hardware, owned by a Jewish businessman, and stole weapons to use in the further destruction of homes and businesses; then the mob moved on the Levee, a predominantly African-American area, and destroyed numerous black-owned businesses; as the crowd moved on towards the Badlands, another black neighborhood, they encountered a black barber named Scott Burton, who attempted to defend his business with a warning shot from a shotgun; he was killed when the crowd returned fire, his shop was burned, and his body was hung from a tree; and

WHEREAS, The mob then burned black-owned homes in the Badlands; an estimated 12,000 people had gathered to watch the houses burn; when firefighters arrived, people in the crowd impeded their progress and cut their hoses; African American citizens were forced to flee the town, find refuge with sympathetic whites, or hide in the State Arsenal; the National Guard was finally able to disperse the crowd late that night; and

WHEREAS, Saturday, August 15 saw 5,000 National Guard troops sent to the city to keep the peace, along with curiosity seekers and tourists who had read about the riots in the newspaper; the peace was soon broken, however, when a new mob formed and began marching toward the State Arsenal, where many black residents were being housed; when confronted by the National Guard, the crowd changed direction and instead walked to the home of 84-year-old black resident William Donnegan; although he had committed no crime, Donnegan was married to a white woman; when he came outside, the mob captured him, cut his throat, and lynched him in a tree in the schoolyard across the street from his home; and

WHEREAS, The riots ended, leaving 40 homes and 24 businesses in ruins, and seven people confirmed dead; a grand jury brought 107 indictments against individuals who had allegedly participated in the riots, but only one man was convicted; Mabel Hallam later admitted that her accusation of rape against George Richardson was false, and Richardson was released from jail; Joe James was convicted of the murder of Clergy Ballard and was hanged in the Sangamon County Jail on October 23, 1908; as a direct result of the Springfield Race Riot, a meeting was held in New York City to discuss solutions to racial problems, leading to the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize this sad chapter in history and realize that from the aftermath comes insight and education, helping us to better deal with racial issues; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the Springfield Chapter of the NAACP as a symbol of our respect.