Race riot sculpture to be unveiled Saturday

Springfield, Illinois is doing more to remember the 1908 Race Riots. This story from the State Journal Register:

A miniature monument commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 1908 Springfield Race Riot will be unveiled at 4 p.m. Saturday during the Illinois NAACP’s 72nd annual state convention at the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel & Conference Center.

The monument is a replica of a larger sculpture created by Peoria artist Preston Jackson that should be installed in February at Union Square Park, according to Ken Page, president of the Springfield branch of the NAACP.

It will depict two ends of a burnt-out home, representing one of dozens destroyed by mobs that attacked black businesses and homes during two days of rioting that killed seven people.

The rioting led to formation of the NAACP.

The miniature will be displayed instead of the larger monument because changes made to it have postponed its installation at the park, Page said.

“The original (monument) will be bronze, and the miniature will be the exact replica of it,” he said. “It will not depict violence in the sense people will relate to (the riots). It’s a monument, and it’s dedicated to that event, but it doesn’t necessarily depict that event.”

If you want to know more about these race riots the Illinois Channel aired a program about the race riots. You can check it out here. Other programs were aired recently but I just have to check to see if they've been archived.