Race Riot (Springfield, Illinois). Postcard, 1908 | Illinois History and Lincoln Collections

This collection contains a photo postcard from 1908, depicting the ruins of a home belonging to an unidentified Black family in Springfield, Illinois, destroyed by a white mob during the Springfield Race Riot of August 14-16, 1908. Handwritten inscriptions on the front and verso are attributed to an individual identified as “Eli.” The photographer is not identified.

The impetus of the Springfield Race Riot of 1908 was an accusation of sexual violence made by Mabel Hallam, a white woman, against George Richardson, a Black man, on the morning of August 14, and the subsequent relocation of Richardson and Joe James, another Black man being held in Sangamon County Jail, to Bloomington, Illinois. Over the course of two days, 24 Black-owned businesses and 40 homes were looted and burned. Around 2,000 Black residents were forced to flee Springfield, and many were denied entry to nearby towns and cities. Seven people died, including two Black men who were lynched, Scott Burton, a barber, and William Donnegan, a retired cobbler. Thousands of white residents were involved in the violence as participants and spectators. 4,000 troops from the Illinois militia were deployed to Springfield to quell the riot. </a><a>In the wake of the Springfield Race Riot, only one conviction for a minor crime was made.

In September 1908, Hallam recanted her testimony and Richardson was released from prison. Springfield’s location in a northern state and its association with Abraham Lincoln drew public attention to the riot and to the realities of racism and racially motivated violence in the United States. The aftermath of the Springfield Race Riot led to the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.

This collection consists of a single, black and white photo postcard. The photograph’s caption reads “Mob Violence Springfield Aug -08.” The handwritten inscription on the front of the postcard reads “Negro home destroyed at time of Race Riot -Eli.” The inscription on the verso reads “Many negros home and place of business were either burned or destroyed -Eli.” In the photograph’s foreground, two brick chimneys and a metal bed frame are distinguishable among smoking rubble. Intact buildings, signs advertising businesses, electrical lines, a horse and buggy, and two individuals, one standing atop an electrical pole, are visible in the photograph’s background. Similar images of this site in the aftermath of the riot exist, but the exact location of the site is not known. The image may be depicting the south side of the 1100 block of East Madison Street, looking southwest toward Eleventh Street, a short distance from the National Monument established in 2024 to commemorate the riot.

The Library purchased this collection in 2025 with the support of the Friends of the Library.