BLOOMINGTON - A hundred years ago this week, Springfield exploded into a now infamous 1908 race riot. Fueled by racial tensions, an angry mob ignited after two black inmates secretly were taken to Bloomington. | VIDEO: Interviews, historical photos | TIMELINE: What led to the riot | NAACP: Birth of a movement | EVENTS: Learn more about the riot's importance | Museum, events mark race riot's anniversary

Similar so-called northern riots had shaken other cities, and larger ones followed. But the Springfield Race Riot that left seven dead, burned and destroyed dozens of black homes and businesses, and sent thousands fleeing in terror, happened to take place where the Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln, had called home.

That irony is what caught the nation's attention, and launched the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

"In a small way, we played a part in the birth of the NAACP. We have a legacy here," said Mike Williams, president of the association's Bloomington branch. If history hadn't brought the two black prisoners to McLean County Jail, the Springfield chain of events might have been different, and fates may not have lined up to inspire the NAACP's formation, he said. "We don't know what the outcome would have been."

Reaching its centennial, the Aug. 14-16 riot has attracted renewed attention, including a Springfield museum exhibit analyzing the riot, and presentations at NAACP conferences.

"The only way we can prevent the horrors of the past is to understand these tragedies," said Ron Swan, Illinois State University police chief, and a member of the Bloomington branch.

Swan penned "From the Ashes of Tragedy: The Birth of the NAACP" for the Law Enforcement Executive Forum journal. He'll talk about his research at the Oct. 23 Freedom Fund Banquet in Bloomington, the annual fundraiser for the local NAACP.

"Young people of today don't believe something like that could have happened. So, yes, it's important to remember," said Henry Gay of Bloomington, who at 84 is an elder in the local NAACP.

Caribel Washington, 94, also of Bloomington and another longtime NAACP member, agreed.

"It did happen. It's important we talk about what is history, so it doesn't repeat itself," she said. "It's a thin line to cross for it to happen again. It doesn't take too many rabble-rousers to get a crowd fired up."

A hot day in August

The terrifying weekend began on a hot Friday, hours after Springfield's George Richardson, a black man jailed on accusations that he raped a white woman, was secretly moved to Bloomington. (She recanted several weeks after the riot; Richardson was freed soon after). Believing her claims and fueled by a climate of racial intolerance in the city, an angry mob gathered, demanding that Richardson be released along with Joe James, a second black inmate accused of killing a white man.

"The Sangamon County sheriff (Charles Werner) took seriously his responsibility to protect the prisoners in his custody. He felt he had to move them to fulfill his duty, being charged with their safety," said McLean County Sheriff Mike Emery, who recently learned of Bloomington's connection to the historic event.

Werner's ruse - a false fire call - briefly diverted attention, allowing the two men to be moved to the McLean County Jail. The news set the crowd off. The mob attacked the property of a white man, one of the few with a car in town, who helped Werner transport the inmates. Next, the mob turned its vengeance on the city's black population. Two black men, Scott Burton and William Donnegan, were lynched.

Bloomington and Chicago were among the cities that sent state militia, with reinforcements reaching almost 4,000 before the riot was brought under control; the deployment remains the most ever required of what now is called the Illinois National Guard, noted Swan.

An Aug. 17 Daily Pantagraph editorial called for an end to the nation's lynching of blacks, and argued the Springfield riot was no surprise. It described it as a "typical northern riot," where instead of individual blacks being targeted (as was the norm in southern riots), mobs tried to force all blacks from a community. Despite the destruction and death, such riots continued throughout the North for another decade.

White/black conflict on rise

The Springfield race riot of 1908 didn't come out of nowhere, said historian and retired District 87 teacher Jack Muirhead, who is part of the Bloomington-Normal Black History Project.

"In the post-Reconstruction period, there were many accounts of conflicts between growing black populations and the whites," he said. Prior to the Civil War, northern cities had been stops for blacks migrating from the South. But during Reconstruction and after, the migration was greater.

At the same time, communities were seeing more European immigrants. Tensions grew. In 1908, Bloomington was home to about 800 blacks. But Springfield, likely because of its ties to Lincoln, had drawn nearly 3,000.

Some historians say job competition was to blame for the riot, others point to the country's long-nurtured, raw hatred of blacks, dating to pre-Civil War times. Regardless, the 1900s were not peaceful.

Though it's unclear how many of the 2,000 to 3,000 black refugees displaced by the riot returned to the city, it is clear that some left for good. Some likely settled in Bloomington-Normal, said Muirhead, partly because black churches here were connected with Springfield and other regional congregations.

In the days following the riot, editorials and news stories about the riot filled the pages of newspapers across the state, including The Daily Pantagraph.

The Rev. L. James Johnson, then pastor of Bloomington's Wayman AME church, called for calm, imploring the Twin City black community to maintain peace, and to avoid the lure of retaliation. And the Rev. George Hoagland, a successful black Twin City businessman, delivered a speech Aug. 16 at the Geneseo Chautauqua saying more jobs available to blacks would ease some of the "race problem."

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Springfield race riot

Four decades after the Civil War ended, tensions had risen between white and black populations in the northern states with race riots erupting in Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas and other areas.

Springfield - Friday, Aug. 14, 1908

• Police arrest George Richardson, a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman, Mabel Hallam.

• A white crowd gathers at the Sangamon County Jail, demanding the release of Richardson, and another black prisoner, Joe James, accused of the July murder of a white man.

• Sheriff Charles Werner creates a diversion and moves the prisoners to Bloomington.

• The mob takes its vengeance out on Harry Loper, a white man who let the sheriff use his car to move the inmates. Loper's car and restaurant are burned. A riot erupts.

• Springfield's state militia is called in, but a lack of ammunition makes the unit ineffective.

• In two areas filled with black-owned businesses and residences, dozens of stores, offices and homes are methodically ransacked and burned. Estimates say from 5,000 to 12,000 spectators watched.

• Meanwhile, about 2,000 black residents flee to the State Arsenal, nearby Camp Lincoln, and other Central Illinois towns where some post signs telling blacks to keep moving. In Jacksonville and Peoria, blacks can't leave trains.

Saturday, Aug. 15

• About 2 a.m., local barber Scott Burton, a black man protecting his property, is shot dead; his body is dragged a block and lynched from a tree, and shot again.

• Around 5 a.m. Bloomington troops, along with other state units, arrive. The Daily Pantagraph reports the unit rescues a black man from a mob, and that troops are fired upon by rioters.

• By afternoon, about 500 members of the state militia patrol quell one mob action, but others flare up. More Illinois units are called in, but don't arrive for hours.

• At 7p.m., a mob heads to the home of William Donnegan, a black retired shoemaker. His throat is slashed, and he's dragged to a schoolyard where they try to hang him. Troops rush him to the hospital, but he dies the next morning.

• As midnight nears, close to 1,500 militia troops are around the state capitol.

Sunday, Aug. 16 and later

• By dawn, much of the state's capital is in ruins. Nearly 4,000 troops patrol the city, marking the largest deployment of Illinois militia to this day. Seven people are dead, including two who were lynched. Forty homes and 24 businesses are ruined.

• Of more than 100 riot indictments, there is only one conviction for a minor crime. The killers of Burton and Donnegan remain free, as do the many arsonists.

• Richardson is freed in September, after Hallam recants. James is returned to Springfield and later executed.

SOURCES: text of Roberta Senechal de la Roche; Ron Swan; and The Daily Pantagraph archives