(RACE RIOTS) Group of Five Real Photo Post Cards of the Spri

Sale 2105 - Lot 336

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Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500

(RACE RIOTS.) Group of Five Real Photo Post Cards of the Springfield Illinois Race Riot. Silver prints, 3 3/8x5 3/8 inches; sepia-toned, some black paper on reverse from removal from album. Springfield: Post Photo, 1908

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Following the Civil War, thousands of blacks poured out of the South into the midwest. Springfield received a great many of these refugees. During the long, hot summer of 1908 two black men were arrested and jailed, in two separate instances for the alleged rape of white women. On August 14, a crowd began to form at a local saloon, and then marched on the jail. Upon hearing that the prisoners had been moved by the sheriff, the crowd proceeded to the black section of the city where they burned down homes and businesses. The next day, five thousand National Guard troops marched in to keep the peace, along with curiosity seekers and tourists.
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 a National Guardsman, the crowd changed direction and instead walked to the home of 84-year-old black resident William Donnegan, who had been married to a white woman for 32 years. When Donnegan came outside, the mob captured him, cut his throat, and lynched him in a tree in the schoolyard across the street from his home. The riots were finally brought under control, leaving 40 homes and 24 businesses in ruins. Seven people were confirmed dead: two black men and five white people who were accidentally killed in the violence. There were rumored to have been several more unreported deaths.
This was the first of more than 30 significant race riots in the United States between 1908 and 1921.