page_title: Springfield race riot of 1908
section_title: "Wet" city
hierarchical_section_title: Springfield race riot of 1908 / Background / "Wet" city
caption_attribution_description: English: The Decatur Herald. 6 Jul 1908.
context_page_description: The Springfield race riot of 1908 were events of mass racial violence committed against African Americans by a mob of about 5,000 white Americans and European immigrants in Springfield, Illinois, between August 14 and 16, 1908. Two black men had been arrested as suspects in a rape, and attempted rape and murder. The alleged victims were two young white women and the father of one of them. When a mob seeking to lynch the men discovered the sheriff had transferred them out of the city, the whites furiously spread out to attack black neighborhoods, murdered black citizens on the streets, and destroyed black businesses and homes. The state militia was called out to quell the rioting.
  The riot, trials and aftermath are said to be one of the most well-documented examples of the complex intersection of race, class, and criminal justice in the United States. In 2008 an NPR report on the centenary of the race riot said that the fact of its taking place in a Northern state, specifically in "The Land of Lincoln", demonstrated that blacks were mistreated across the country, not just in the South, and described the event as a proxy for the story of race in America.
context_section_description: Much of Springfield's atmosphere, at the time, was a result of its relationship with prohibition.
  Prohibition represented a conflict between urban and rural values emerging in the United States. With the rising population of immigrants in urban centers, more immigrants began frequenting saloons.  This spawned the notion that saloons were breeding grounds for moral and political corruption, due to the perception that immigrants traded their votes for favors i.e. jobs, housing, food, etc.
  In a backlash to the changing demographics, many prohibitionists embraced nativism, fostering further resentment toward immigrants who, typically due to cultural differences about drinking, were against prohibition.
  After a highly contentious debate on prohibition, in 1907, the Illinois General Assembly approved the "local option" law, which allowed local residents to decide whether their towns would be "wet" (allowing liquor sales within the boundaries of individual counties and townships), or to otherwise be "dry."
  In April 1908, after a Sangamon County vote, only two of the county's 27 townships opted to be "wet" – New Berlin, which was the home of four saloons, and Capital Township, which included Springfield and accounted for over 80 percent of the county's nearly 250 saloons.  At the time of the vote, approximately $2.2 million (over $55 million in 2018) was spent on alcohol in Springfield's more than 200 saloons, six of which were black-owned, generating tax revenue that accounted for one-third of the city's $300,000 (about $7.5 million in 2018) annual budget.
  While there were nearly 18,000 [all male] ballots cast in that county vote, the overall sentiment of the county becoming "dry" was favored by just two fewer votes than those who favored it remaining "wet."  This caused the Springfield mayor, Roy Reece, a politician known to curry political favors through vice, to implement a minimal regulation to keep voters, on either side of the issue, happy, by prohibiting any saloon to operate between 12:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.
  Despite this, Springfield remained a hotbed for drinking, as the saloons serviced both local residents, and also became a destination for visitors – including many who were unemployed or underemployed – from neighboring "dry" townships and counties.  For example, between May–June 1907, neighboring Decatur had nearly 70 arrests for drunkenness.  However, one year later, after Decatur had become "dry," it had 80 percent fewer drinking arrests, and every man who had been arrested for drunkenness had obtained his liquor in Springfield.
  The drinking culture of Springfield fed into the pending attacks in two ways.  First, though Springfield was somewhat sheltered from the sluggish economy, the Panic did leave more men unemployed or underemployed.  Second, many of these men would frequent the saloons, where they would drink daily, binge drink, and abuse alcohol due to mental strain, financial pressure, shame and a feeling of helplessness that they were unable to protect, and provide, for their families.  Socially, unemployed white men felt aggrieved against black men who either had jobs or owned property and, otherwise, lived well.
  "Drunkenness" arrests were particularly high on the Fourth of July, a fact that would later play into the ensuing attacks.  For example, in 1907, in Decatur, there were over 200 arrests for drunkenness on Fourth of July. The holiday resulted in so many issues that The Inter Ocean newspaper, of Chicago, published an "Annual List of Injured, Arrest and Fires Resulting From Celebration of Fourth of July."  In 1907, there were over 70 recorded injuries and nearly 20 arrests on the list.
caption: Decatur Herald. 6 Jul 1908.
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