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Friday, February 06, 2009

Statue commemorating race riot to be unveiled

The race riots that happened over 100 years ago in Springfield, IL are getting more and more recognition these days. Check out this AP article:
During its quarterly meeting Saturday in Springfield, the Illinois State NAACP plans to unveil a bronze statue by sculptor Preston Jackson commemorating the Springfield Race Riot of 1908.

This is the centennial year of the NAACP, and former Springfield chapter president Ken Page says the riot was one of the reasons the civil rights organization was founded.
This sculpture was commissioned thru a grant of $300,000 by the IL Capital Development Board to the city of Springfield. Also the Springfield NAACP branch and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency were instrumental in this project.

Not bad for an historical event that has only recently started to garner some attention.

If you want to know more I refer you to one of my posts that links to some relevant information.

100 years had past last year, but this year I'm sure we'll hear a little bit about the race riots that occured in Chicago back in 1919. 2009 is at least the 90th anniversary of that. I would like to find some links about that race riot. People know a little more about that than they did about what happened in Springfield, IL in 1908.

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