Skube’s column, “Springfield’s Secret,” details the centennial anniversary of race riots in Springfield, Ill., the hometown of President Abraham Lincoln. It was an event, Skube writes, that the city had forgotten. Only now is Springfield accepting its past.
Skube writes:
“Still fewer would include in the roster of riot-torn cities thehometown of Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator. But 100 years agothis summer, white mobs rampaged through the streets of this city forweeks, setting fire to black businesses, beating up blacks whereverthey found them and demanding that two black inmates — both accused ofcrimes against whites — be handed over to them by the county sheriff.Not until 5,000 federal troops were deployed was calm restored.Afterward, the Chamber of Commerce and others tried their best to paintthe episode over, saying the mobs were local lowlifes who did notreflect the city or its people. “The inception of the destruction oflives and property in Springfield came from the lawless, indolent andvagrant portion of the community,” Maj. Gen. E.C. Young said ondeclaring an end to military occupation of the city.”
To read the rest of Skube’s column, click the link to the upper right.