Today, Friday, August 16, President Joe Biden established the Springfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument as America’s newest national park site — the eighth addition to the national park system during the Biden-Harris administration.
The new national monument will help tell a more complete story of America by preserving historic objects associated with a violent, racially motivated riot in President Abraham Lincoln’s hometown of Springfield, Illinois, in 1908 that ultimately served as a catalyst for important steps in the civil rights movement, including the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
The Presidential Proclamation signed today details several days of mass violence that took place August 14–16, 1908, when a white mob attacked the Black community in the town of Springfield. Rioters lynched two Black men, looted businesses, and burned down homes.
This brutality was emblematic of the racism and violence experienced by Black Americans in the late 19th and 20th centuries. In the wake of the devastation, a group of civic leaders – including Ida B. Wells-Barnett, W. E. B. Du Bois and Mary Church Terrell – came together to launch the NAACP, which went on to achieve momentous civil rights victories.
President Biden Establishes Springfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument
“Establishing the Springfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument is an important step in recognizing and remembering this painful but important moment in America’s history,” said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, who joined President Biden for a signing ceremony in the Oval Office today. “The Springfield 1908 Race Riot was a horrific and significant part of our nation’s march toward equality and civil rights. As we work to tell America’s story – even when difficult – may this monument help us learn from the past in order to build a more just and equitable future.”
“This national monument will provide current and future generations an opportunity to reflect on the tragic events but also to be inspired by the resilience of the Black community and national leaders that went on to fight for social change and civil rights in America,” said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams. “I want to thank the City of Springfield, St. John’s Hospital, and the National Park Foundation for their role in making this possible. The National Park Service is honored to partner with the community to preserve the site’s archeology and tell this important story.”
The national monument is located where the violent assault began, in the Badlands neighborhood, and includes the foundations of five houses destroyed in the Springfield 1908 Race Riot.
Over the coming years, the National Park Service (NPS) will work with the local community and partners to plan for interpretation, commemoration, historic preservation, and visitor experiences.
The national monument includes 1.57 acres of federal land, made possible through land donations from the City of Springfield and St. John’s Hospital of the Hospital Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, and with support from the National Park Foundation. The monument boundary encompasses additional lands where the riot occurred that may be donated to the NPS at a future date.
The monument site, near Madison Street and the 10th Street Rail Corridor, includes an area that is currently part of an active railroad construction zone and not accessible to the public at this time. The NPS will assess safety and access issues to design interim measures that provide opportunities to share the history of the site with the public while construction is ongoing.
In Springfield, the NPS also manages the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, which preserves the only home Lincoln ever owned and where he lived for 17 years prior to becoming President.
In 2018, the NPS completed a reconnaissance survey of sites associated with the Springfield 1908 Race Riot, and completed a special resource study in 2023, which evaluated sites in Springfield for potential inclusion in the National Park System. The special resource study, directed by Congress, found that the site met the criteria for inclusion.
During a recent community meeting in Springfield, the Interior Department’s Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Shannon Estenoz and Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality Brenda Mallory heard strong support for President Biden to designate a national monument from local, state, and national elected officials, local and national civil rights organizations, and community members.
National Park System Now Encompasses 431 Different Sites
As a national monument, the site becomes part of the larger National Park System consisting of 431 national park sites.
This is the eighth national park unit created during the Biden-Harris administration, including Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument in Illinois and Mississippi, the expansion of Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park in Kansas, and most recently Blackwell School National Historic Site in Texas.
Visit nps.gov/SPRA to learn more about the national monument.
