THE 1908 SPRINGFIELD RACE RIOTS AND ITS THE IMPORTANCE TO THE LONG

STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS IN THE UNITED STATES

Robert Dietrich
HIST 402W: Senior Seminar in History
June 22, 2018
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In the summer of 1908, race relations in Springfield, Illinois began to deteriorate after a

“mulatto” man was stabbed and a white man was stabbed and killed, both allegedly by “Negro”

attackers. A month later, on August 12th, a white woman also alleged that she had been assaulted

by a “Negro.” The news of the woman’s alleged assault at the hands of a black man hit the

newsstands on August 14th and the already smoldering fuel of racism exploded into an all-out

riot that lasted three days and required state militia to be called in to quell the riotAlthough not

the first race riot after the Civil War and Reconstruction, it is an important event in Civil Rights

history because it brought national attention to the fact that problematic race relations were not

limited to the states of the Old South. In the aftermath, concerned progressive leaders in the

white community met with leaders of the black community to discuss how best to deal with

racism and white supremacy in the United States. The result was the formation of the National

Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

BACKGROUND

A banking panic in 1907, called “The Panic of 1907” caused a contraction of the

economy.1 The first sector of the economy to be hit in Illinois was the railroad industry. Several

workers lost their jobs. Those kept their jobs often saw their hours cut and many were demoted.2

A mining strike in early 1908 also had a detrimental affect on the economy as road construction

and maintenance was halted due to a lack of coal.3 Because industry related to mining slowed,

1. Charles W. Calomiris and Gary Gorton, “The Origins of Banking Panics: Models,
Facts, and Bank Regulation,” Financial Markets and Financial Crises, (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1991), 114.

2. “Shop Force Time Cut to Four Days a Week,” The Decatur Herald, (Decatur, Illinois),
Mar. 1, 1908.

3. “Mining Suspension Hurts Business,” The McHenry Plaindealer, (McHenry, Illinois),

Apr. 30, 1908.
 2

and the work stopped, otherwise gainfully employed workers were not getting paid. The United

States at the time had 8% unemployment with 1.2 million unemployed nationwide. Illinois was

hardest hit with 200,000 men out of work.4 Additionally, a ballot measure was introduced in

Illinois in April 1908 to allow counties to vote on the issue of prohibition. Several counties voted

to “go dry” and 2,000 bars were subsequently closed and the associated jobs were lost.5 These

circumstances created a situation where workers, were employed, but compensation was being

reduced, and job security was mixed with doubt. The Springfield workforce was surrounded by

the workforce of adjacent counties, where the economy was similar or worse, and was less

diverse demographically.

The African American population of Springfield was only about 6%.6 Between racial

intimidation and cultural business practices, most African Americans were forced to remain in

the lower class. For instance, there were no white janitors in Springfield in 1908.7 However,

some African Americans did make it into the upper class and began moving into “white

neighborhoods,” which threatened the segregated social structure and the culture of white

supremacy.8 As previously mentioned, so-called scientific racism was in decline. However, the

prejudices based on years of pseudoscientific claims of racial inferiority made by respected

4. "1,200,000 Idle Men Throughout the Country," The Daily Herald, (Chicago, Illinois),
Mar. 27, 1908.

5. “Nearly 2,000 Saloons of State Wiped Out By Local Option Votes,” The Inter Ocean,
(Chicago, Illinois), Apr. 8, 1908.

6. “Statistics,” 648.

7. Clarence Liggins, interviewed by Reverend Negil L. McPherson, Black Community

Project, University of Illinois at Springfield, Mar. 8, 1974.

8. Carole Merritt, Something So Horrible, (Springfield: Abraham Lincoln Presidential

Library Foundation, 2008): 13-17.
 3

academics did not just magically go away with the arrival of new and more respected scientific

information. A great number of people believed that African Americans were naturally inclined

to rape and murder.9 Just sixteen years before the Springfield Race Riots, Frederick Douglass

noted that no such accusation had been made against Negros prior to the passage of the thirteenth

amendment saying, “It is only since the Negro has become a citizen and a voter that this charge

has been made.”10 This perception of African Americans as violent and sex-crazed was used as

one justification for lynchings—it was seen as a way to protect white women.11

The immigrant population within the United States began to grow rapidly beginning in

about 1900. From 1890 to 1900, the immigrant population increased in Illinois about 0.15% per

year. After 1900, the yearly average immigration increased to about 4%.12 Because they were

trying to establish themselves in their new country, immigrants, along with African Americans,

were often willing to work for lower wages and more likely to break strikes.13 As a result,

American born citizens became resentful of immigrants and feared the rapid growth in the

9. Charles Carroll, The Negro A Beast or In the Image of God, (St. Louis: American Book
and Bible House, 1900): 292-294.

10. Frederick Douglass, “The Reason Why The Colored American Is Not In The World's
Columbia Exposition,” Frederick Douglass: Selected Speeches and Writings, ed. Philip S. Foner,
(Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 1999): 743.

11. Martha Hodes, “The Sexualization of Reconstruction Politics: White Women and
Black Men in the South after the Civil War,” Journal of the History of Sexuality 3, No. 3 (1993):
405-406, 408-412.

12. “Statistics for Illinois” Thirteenth Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1910,
Department of Commerce and Labor Bureau of the Census, (Washington: Government Printing
Office, 1913): 648.

13. Alma Herbst, The Negro in the Slaughtering and Meat-Packing Industry in Chicago,
(New York: Houghton, 1932):18-22
 4

immigrant population.14 Fear and resentment caused immigrants to be otherized. In spite of the

decline in scientific racism, they were considered less than white, but still in a racial stratum

above blacks, but not by much.15 Immigrants formed enclaves to protect themselves from the

anti-immigrant bias, but also sought to integrate into the American culture. Many were acutely

aware of the racial position imposed upon them and sought to prove their “whiteness” and

distance themselves from blacks. The proof of “whiteness” usually came through legal means.16

Occasionally, European immigrants proved their “whiteness” by engaging in anti-black violence

with other whites.17 Even people of mixed-race with African American ancestry submitted to the

racial hierarchy, taking the side of whites to stay above blacks in a racially conscious society.18

TRIGGERING EVENTS

The combination of a faltering economy with anti-immigrant and anti-black sentiment

proved to be a volatile compound that just needed the slightest spark to set off an explosion of

14. Howard C. Hill, “The Americanization Movement,” American Journal of Sociology

24, no. 6, (1919): 642.

15. David R. Roediger, Working Toward Whiteness: How America's Immigrants Became
White: The Strange Journey from Ellis Island to the Suburbs, (New York: Basic Books, 2005):
58

16. Ibid., 59-60.

17. Ibid., 127-128.

18. Ray Stannard Baker, “The Tragedy of the Mulatto,” The Farmer and Mechanic,
(Raleigh, North Carolina), Mar. 31, 1908.
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racial anger. Two events combined to create just such a spark: The murder of mine hoisting

engineer, Clergy Ballard,19 and the alleged rape of Mabel Hallam the following month.20

On Sunday, July 5th, 1908, some time before 1:00 a.m., Clergy Ballard was awakened by

cries from his daughter that there was an intruder in her room. The intruder had fled the house

and Ballard chased the suspect and was fatally stabbed when he caught up to him.21 Ballard’s

sons who were described as “young athletes,” continued to pursue the fleeing suspect, but the

suspect escaped.22 Just a few minutes later, a mulatto man named Ed Jamison was robbed of his

coat and stabbed.23

A few hours later, an African American male, named Joe James, who seemed to fit the

description of Ballard’s attacker was found passed out drunk in an empty lot about a half mile

from the Ballard’s home. Upon hearing of the discovery, Ballard’s sons and several other

neighborhood men rushed to the lot where they found Joe James and nearly beat him to death.

The Daily Illinois State Journal recorded that James was “…battered and beaten until he bled

profusely from the nose and ears. Both eyes were closed and his lips and scalp split.” The article

also noted that had the police not intervened, Joe James would likely have been beaten to death.

19. “Killed by Negro Assassin,” The Grand Forks Daily Herald, (Grand Forks, ND), Jul.
9, 1908.

20. “Negro Assaults Woman; Chokes Frail Victim,” Daily Illinois State Journal,
(Springfield, IL), Aug. 14, 1908.

21. Roberta Senechal de la Roche, In Lincoln’s Shadow: The 1908 Race Riot in
Springfield, Illinois, (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1990), 19.

22. “Negro was in Ballard's Home,” Illinois State Register, (Springfield, IL) Jul 10, 1908.

23. “Negro is Badly Cut,” Daily Illinois State Journal, (Springfield, IL), Jul. 5, 1908.
 6

Joe James was arrested and jailed for the murder of Clergy Ballard and held in the Springfield

City Jail without bail.24

Five and a half weeks later, on August 12th, a white woman named Mabel Hallam alleged

that she had been raped by a black man.25 The fuse was lit.

THE RIOTS

August 14th

George Richardson, a laborer who had been working in Hallam’s neighborhood was

accused, arrested on August 14th, and put in the same cell as Joe James who was still awaiting

trial. Richardson proclaimed his innocence and stated that he had an alibi.26 The news of Mabel

Hallam’s alleged rape was published in the local papers on August 14th.27 That afternoon a mob

of about 3,000 people began to form at the city jail, demanding Joe James and George

Richardson be turned over to them. The National Guard was mobilized to keep the mob at bay.28

Sheriff Charles Werner created a ruse to distract the mob while Harry T. Loper, a local business

owner and the sole automobile owner, snuck James and Richardson out the back and drove them

to McClean County Jail 65 miles away.29

24. “Four Girls Find Assailant,” Daily Illinois State Journal, (Springfield, IL), Jul. 6,
1908.

25. “Negro Assaults Woman.”

26. “Troops and Police Powerless to Check the Reign of Terror,” Daily Illinois State
Register, (Springfield, IL), Aug. 15, 1908.

27. “Dragged from Her Bed and Outraged by Negro,” Daily Illinois State Register,
(Springfield, IL), Aug. 14, 1908.

28. “Report of Riots at Springfield, Ill., August, 1908,” Biennial report of the Adjutant
General of Illinois, (Springfield: Adjutant General Office, 1908): 263, 270

29. “Taken on to Peoria,” The Decatur Herald, (Decatur, IL.), Aug. 15, 1908.
 7

Loper returned to a restaurant he owned at about 8:00 p.m. Realizing they had been

tricked and that Loper, who was well known in the community, had been part of the ruse, the

mob marched to his restaurant, led by a woman named Kate Howard, who was also well known

in the community for being “loose with the boys.” The mob chased out the patrons, set fire to the

restaurant, flipped Loper’s car and set fire to that as well.30 By the time the National Guard

arrived, the mob had grown to about 5,000 people, and Loper’s restaurant and car were both

destroyed.31

Sheriff Werner sent a wagonload of deputies to the restaurant and Colonel Richard Shand

of the National Guard sent ten infantrymen to assist. When the deputies and soldiers arrived, they

were accosted by the mob and their weapons were stolen. Firemen who had also arrived to fight

the fire at Loper’s had their hoses cut by the mob. Loper was able to escape and with the

restaurant destroyed, the mob dispersed.32 In the wake of the destruction was found the body of

eighteen-year-old Louis Johnston, a white man, who became the first death of the riots.33

The mob continued up Washington Street to The Lyric Picture Show, also owned by

Loper and destroyed it as well.34 The mob then proceeded to Lincoln’s birth home, shouting,

“Here’s where Lincoln lived; he freed the negroes. Let’s burn it down.” However, the custodian

30. J.R. Fitzpatrick, interviewed by Richard Shereikis, University of Illinois at

Springfield, November 1980.

31. “Report of Riots,” Biennial Report, 271.

32. “Cafe Furniture Burned in the Street as Rioters Fight Police and Firemen,” St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, (St. Louis, MO), Aug. 15, 1908.

33. Merritt, 22.

34. Helen Hemmick Becker, interviewed by Kay MacLean, University of Illinois at

Springfield, April 1975.
 8

of the home, Ninian Edwards, went out on the porch and stood down a man holding a torch.35

The mob moved on to their next target, a pawnshop owned by a Jewish man named Reuben

Fishman. Someone had shouted that he was selling guns to blacks, so the mob went to there,

broke in, stole weapons, and set the store on fire.36

August 15th

The mob continued up Washington Street referred to as “the Levee” and on to an area

called “The Badlands.” As they went, they destroyed black owned business and homes, as well

as the homes and businesses of white men who were see as sympathetic to blacks. White homes

were spared if they had a white handkerchief in the window.37 The first businesses targeted were

the six black-owned saloons. The mob began by stealing any liquor they could get their hands on

and then vandalizing the interiors. Two saloons were completely destroyed. The first saloon

targeted was called Jim Dandy’s because it was frequented by Joe James, the man accused of

Clergy Ballard’s death. The owner attempted to defend his business with his rifle, but he saw the

effort was futile and abandoned his business to the mob. In addition to the saloons, thirty-five

other businesses were destroyed.38

In addition to the black businesses and homes destroyed, the first lynching of the riot

occurred. At about 2:00 a.m., Scott Burton, a 65-year-old barber, who catered exclusively to

35. “Torch Threatens Home of Lincoln,” The Washington Times, (Washington, DC),
Aug. 18, 1908.

36. Ross B. Wright, interviewed by Brian Alexander, University of Illinois at Springfield,

1972; Merrit, Something So Horrible, 26-28.

37. James L. Crouthamel, “The Springfield Race Riot of 1908,” The Journal of Negro
History 45, no. 3 (1960): 172.

38. Merritt, 25-28.

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white clientele, was dragged from his home after he attempted to fend off rioters with his

shotgun. The mob who showed up at his house was led by Kate Howard.39 Burton was beaten

and stabbed, then hung from a tree with a clothes line cord.40

Throughout the evening of August 14th and into early morning of August 15th, the

sheriff’s office and the National Guard had been overwhelmed by the mob. The problems began

with Sheriff Werner not perceiving a problem with the mob and Colonel Shand having to

convince him to call for National Guard reinforcement. Because the call came so late, the

National Guard was slow in mobilizing. As men arrived at their muster points, they were quickly

dispatched to assist with outbreaks of violence in other areas. Werner finally told Shand that for

the safety of the officers and guardsmen, they had to wait for reinforcements which did not come

until about 2:20 a.m. on August 15th.41 Compounding the problem was that in addition to the

mob, there were onlookers that interfered with law enforcement and the National Guard attempts

to contain the riots. At one point, the crowd was estimated to be ten thousand people in size.42

At 2:30 a.m., Colonel Shand, Sheriff Werner, sheriff’s deputies, and guardsmen deployed

to 12th and Madison Streets and Werner asked the crowd to disperse. Shand suggested a high

volley as a warning and if the high volley did not cause the crowd to disperse, to follow it with a

low volley. Werner agreed, asked the crowd to disperse again and when they refused Colonel

Shand ordered the high volley. Instead of dispersing the mob, it enraged them and the mob began

39. Senechal de la Roche, In Lincoln’s Shadow, 38.

40. “Two Negroes are Lynched,” The Weekly Republican, (Plymouth, IN), Aug. 20,
1908.

41. “Report of Riots,” Biennial Report, 270-273.

42. “Springfield’s Fierce Riot Results in Six Deaths,” The McHenry Plaindealer,
(McHenry, IL), Aug. 20, 1908.
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closing on the sheriffs and guardsmen. When Shand ordered the low volley, Werner countered

with an order for a high volley confusing both the sheriffs and guardsmen causing some to shoot

into the crowd and several rioters were injured. Unsurprisingly, this convinced the mob to

disperse. The guardsmen were then able to cut down Burton’s body.43

300 displaced African Americans were given refuge in the State Arsenal and more began

to leave the city.44 On the morning of August 15th, as the news broke throughout the region about

the riots, tourists and others with a sense of schadenfreude began to pour into Springfield to look

at the aftermath of the first night of the riots. National Guardsmen also continued to arrive from

around the state to reinforce the existing force. A new mob began to form at the arsenal which

grew to about one thousand people by 7:00p.m. The mob attempted to attack the displaced

African Americans taking refuge there. A national guard cavalry unit stationed there stopped the

mob, and the mob headed southwest.45

Few blacks lived in the southwest part of Springfield, but one notable black man did—

80-year-old cobbler, William Donnegan.46 William Donnegan was well-known and respected in

the community. He had made a fortune during the Civil War by transporting escaped slaves and

hiring them out. He was a friend of Abraham Lincoln, and his wife, Sarah was white.47 The mob

rushed the house, pulled Donnegan out and began to beat him as his family escaped out the back.

43. “Report of Riots,” Biennial Report, 272-273, 282.

44. “Troops Check Riots, Sixth Victim Dies,” The New York Times, (New York, NY),
Aug. 17, 1908.

45. Merritt, 39.

46. Ibid.

47. “W.H. Donnegan Dies Sunday,” Daily Illinois State Register, (Springfield, IL), Aug.
17, 1908.
 11

His throat was slit and the mob again produced a clothesline cord and attempted to hang him

from a nearby tree. Law enforcement arrived and dispersed the mob before they could get

Donnegan off the ground.48 He was still alive when the crime was stopped, but he died the next

day.49

Around the same time, law enforcement began receiving reports of black retaliation.

Many of the African American residents of Springfield who did not flee the city after the report

of Mabel Hallam’s rape defended their homes and businesses with arms, but the rumors of black

retaliation were proven to be untrue.50

August 16th

The worst of the riots were over by Sunday morning. However, there were still isolated

outbreaks of violence which were put down quickly.51 Also by Sunday morning, an estimated

2,400 guardsmen had been deployed to Springfield.52 Although command had not passed from

the Sheriff to the National Guard, Major General Edward Young, the commander of National

Guard division had been infuriated by the attempted attack on the arsenal and the lynching of

William Donnegan and gave orders “... to use all force necessary and not to hesitate to shoot with

effect, at the least show of violence or resistance on the part of the mob.”53

48. Senechal de la Roche, 44-46.

49. “W.H. Donnegan Dies Sunday.”

50. “Report of Riots,” Biennial Report, 266, 282; Merrit, 28.

51. Senechal de la Roche, 45.

52. “More Troops Ordered Out: Violence Ends,” Daily Illinois State Journal,
(Springfield, IL), Aug. 16, 1908.

53. “Report of Riots,” Biennial Report, 266

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AFTERMATH

Damages, Injuries, and Deaths

Over three days of rioting, both the media and authorities tried to calculate the number of

dead and injured. Unfortunately, the exact numbers are hard to determine because of conflicting

reports. A month after the riots, a source put the number of white injured at more than one-

hundred,54 but the number of black injuries was unknown because an estimated 2,000 had fled

the city. Those who stayed or did not get out in time and were caught by the mob were

mercilessly beaten.55

The initial tally of the dead was seven, which included the two men who were lynched

and five white mob participants. It was initially claimed that the white men had died from

wounds received by black citizens who defended themselves. It was later discovered that all five

had died from wounds inflicted by other members of the white mob or the National Guard.56 In

addition to the Burton and Donnegan, six other “unidentified” African Americans were found

dead. Four were dead from gunshot wounds and a fifth was found with his throat cut.57 A sixth

unidentified man had been lynched and found hanging “… with his clothing slashed into shreds.

His body was riddled with bullets.”58 The number of black dead was brought to nine with the

54. “The So-Called Race Riot at Springfield, Illinois,” Charities and Commons, (New
York: The Charity Organization Society, 1908): 711.

55. New York Times, Aug. 17, 1908.

56. “Revised List of Victims of Springfield Riots,” Chicago Tribune, (Chicago, IL), Aug.
16, 1908.

57. “List of the Dead in Springfield Race Riot,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, (St. Louis, MO),
Aug. 15, 1908.

58. “Sinking of BLood Red Sun in West Marks Beginning of Another Night's Carnival of
Crime in Springfield, Capital of Illinois,” Richmond Palladium, (Richmond, IN), Aug. 16, 1908.
 13

death of an infant who died from exposure when her parents who fled the violence could not find

shelter in a neighboring community.59

More than 35 businesses were destroyed. More than 50 families were displaced due to the

damage done to their homes. Forty homes were completely destroyed and several more were

severely damaged.60 The total in damages and claims came to $155,000, which adjusted for basic

inflation is over four million dollars in 2018.61 The New York Times reported that about 2,000

people had left the city.62

The Response and Trials

While many in the northern media recognized that the riots were influenced by racial

factors, many others denied that race or racism was involved at all. According to William

English Walling, The Illinois State Journal ran an editorial that attempted to explain away the

reasoning behind the riots as something other than race:

The implication is clear that the conditions, not the populace, were to blame and that
many good citizens could find no other remedy than that applied by the mob. It was not
the fact of the whites’ hatred toward the negroes, but of the negroes’ own misconduct,
general inferiority or unfitness for free institutions that were at fault.63

59. Otis B. Duncan, “The Victims: A look at some of the others,” State Journal-Register,
May 31, 2008, http://www.sj-r.com/x244770249/The-Victims-A-look-at-some-of-the-others.

60. “Mrs. Earl Hallam Has Broken Down and Confessed that Geroge Richardson Did Not
Assault Her,” Broad Ax, (Chicago, IL), Sep. 5, 1908.

61. “Here’s What Followed The Arrest of the Wrong Man,” Daily Illinois State Journal,
(Springfield, IL), Sep. 2, 1908; “Inflation Calculator,” Official Data Compendium, Accessed
Aug. 16, 2018, https://www.officialdata.org/1908-dollars-in-2018?amount=155000.

62. New York Times, Aug. 17, 1908.

63. William English Walling, “Race War in the North,” The Independent 65, no. 3118,
(1908): 531.
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Billy Sunday, a famous evangelist of the time and a prohibitionist, blamed the riots on

alcohol. He was quoted as saying, “I believe the people who committed those crimes last Friday

and Saturday nights in Springfield are the worse class of people—people who were whiskey-

soaked.”64 Another famous prohibitionist of the time, William Lloyd Clark blamed racism on

alcohol. He wrote, “Wipe out the saloon and you settle the race question. Any number of black

and white men can live peaceably in this country sober…”65

More than 200 people were arrested in connection with the riots. Frank L. Hatch, the

State Attorney General claimed to have enough evidence to try at least fifteen people for

murder.66 By October, 149 indictments had been served.67 Only ten percent of the indictments

were brought against black citizens. Most were ultimately released, but were held past November

3rd so they could not register to vote.68

The first of the white rioters to be tried for murder was Abraham Raymer. The State

Attorney General thought they had a solid case against him, but the combination of procedural

blunders on the part of the prosecution along with an all-white jury that either favored the rioters

64. “Whisky Caused the Riot,” Daily Illinois State Journal, (Springfield, IL), Aug. 19,
1908.

65. William Lloyd Clark, Hell at Midnight in Springfield, (Milan: Clark, 1908), 71.

66. “Death Penalty is Sought for All Lynchers,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, (St. Louis,
Missouri), Aug. 17 1908.

67. “Put a Ban on Base Cowards: Report of Springfield Grand Jury Scores Faithless
Offices,” The Alexandria Times-Tribune, (Alexandria, IN), Sep. 4, 1908; “New Race Riot True
Bills,” The Rock Island Daily Argus and Daily Union, (Rock Island, IL), Oct. 24, 1908.

68. “Bowe's Alleged Assailants,” Illinois State Register, (Springfield, IL), Nov. 3, 1908.
 15

or were afraid of retribution acquitted him of murder.69 Raymer got off with a petty larceny

charge.70

The only other rioter who received any punishment was 15-year-old Roy Young who

confessed to breaking into Fishman’s Pawnshop, stealing guns, and vandalizing the store. He

was given a sentence of six months of reform school. Kate Howard who was one of the

ringleaders of the mob, drank poison when she heard she was going to be arrested and died

before getting to jail.71

Mabel Hallam revealed that she fabricated the story of her rape. She had been having an

affair and confessed to her husband when she began to show signs of a sexually transmitted

disease. Her husband beat her, so she concocted the story to avoid the shame associated with the

affair. George Richardson was released.72

The evidence against Joe James was circumstantial at best. He had been seen leaving

Dandy Jim’s as it closed and he was inebriated.73 Clergy Ballard’s son, Homer, who was

described as a “young athlete” said he had to chase his father’s assailant and he escaped.74 The

69. “Riot Defendant Held Not Guilty,” Chicago Tribune, (Chicago, IL), Sep. 24, 1908.

70. “Jail for Abraham Raymer,” Jackson Daily News, (Jackson, MO), Dec 30, 1908.

71. “Leader of the Springfield Riots, Mrs. Kate Howard, Takes Poison and Drops Dead,”
Cincinnati Enquirer, (Cincinnati, OH), Aug. 27, 1908.

72. Broad Ax, Sep. 5, 1908.

73. “Joe James Says He Has No Knowledge of Actions After Midnight: Witnesses for
Defense,” Illinois State Register, (Springfield, IL.), 18 Sep 1908.

74. Illinois State Register, Jul 10, 1908; “Ballards Think Justice is Done,” Illinois State
Journal, (Springfield, IL.), 24 Oct 1908.
 16

only matching part of the description was that the suspect and James both wore gray pants. 75

However, James was tried for the murder of Clergy Ballard and given the death penalty.76

LEGACY

In a 2008 National Public Radio Interview, historian Roberta Senechal de la Roche

explained that white northerners did not really think that there was a race issue in the north.

“White Northerners had a rather complacent and self-satisfied attitude that anti-black prejudice

and anti-black violence in particular was largely a Southern problem.”77

William English Walling, a liberal journalist from New York had been in Chicago the

day the rioting started. He traveled to Springfield to investigate and wrote an exposé on the

events titled, “The Race War in the North,” which was published in The Independent, a New

York Periodical. In the exposé he called for the formation of an association to promote political

and economic equality for African Americans, writing, “… the spirit of the abolitionists, of

Lincoln and Lovejoy, must be revived and we must come to treat the negro on a plane of

absolute political and capitalist equality, or Vardaman and Tillman will soon have transferred the

race war to the North.”78

Social worker, suffragette, and civil rights activist, Mary White Ovington read Walling’s

work and wrote to him of her support and asked him to meet with her and Dr. Henry Moskowitz

75. Illinois State Register, 18 Sep 1908.

76. “Death for Negro,” The Rock Island Argus and Daily Union, (Rock Island, IL.), Sep.
18 1908.

77. Cheryl Corley, “The Day Lincoln's Hometown Erupted In Racial Hate,” National
Public Radio, August 10, 2008,
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93606402.

78. Walling, 534.

 17

in her New York Apartment.79 Walling, Ovington, and Henry Moskowitz met in January of 1909

and began inviting prominent black leaders and white liberals to meet with them to form an

advocacy group for African Americans. After conferring with several prominent black and white

leaders, and at the behest of Walling, Ovington, Moskowitz, and others, journalist Oswald

Villard wrote “The Call,” which invited “believers in democracy to join in a national conference

for the discussion of the present evils, the voicing of protests, and the renewal of the struggle for

civil and political liberty.” The signers included W.E.B. DuBois, Ida B. Wells, John Dewey, Ray

Stannard Baker, and Jane Addams. “The Call” was published on February 12th, 1909, the 100th

Birthday of President Abraham Lincoln.80

Though not formally chartered until 1911, the National Association for the Advancement

of Colored People (NAACP) considers February 12th, 1909 to be its founding date.81

The events of August 14th through 16th, 1908 cannot be seen as anything but tragic,

especially in light of the fact that no real justice was ever received for the victims of the riots.

However, the fact that the riots created awareness of the brutality and discrimination faced by

African Americans in the North as well as in the South and the National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People rising phoenix-like from the ashes of this tragedy can both be

seen as major steps forward in the long struggle for civil rights.

79. “Mary White Ovington,” Biography, last updated Apr. 2, 2014, Accessed Jun 15,
2018, https://www.biography.com/people/mary-white-ovington-9430955.

80. Patricia Sullivan, Lift Every Voice, (New York: The New Press, 2009), 6.

81. “Oldest and Boldest,” NAACP, Accessed Jun. 19, 2018,

https://www.naacp.org/oldest-and-boldest.
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