Springfield might get another national monument

Posted on August 11, 2022
The National Park Service is studying the sites and stories of a race riot from 114 years ago, a riot credited with leading to the creation of the NAACP. (Dave Dahl/WJBC)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Springfield might get another national monument.

The National Park Service is studying the sites and stories of a race riot from 114 years ago, a riot credited with leading to the creation of the NAACP.

Dan Duster, a great-grandson of journalist and civil rights pioneer Ida B. Wells, cheered on the movement during a public hearing Wednesday night at the local NAACP headquarters.

“Knowing what people did, knowing what our ancestors went through, knowing what our country went through, and some of it’s not good. Some of it’s not good at all. It’s barbaric, it should never have happened in any society, let alone the U.S.A.,” said Duster, “With dialogue, you can have healthy discussions. With healthy discussions, you can have healing. With healing, we can move forward in a positive, wonderful way.”

Springfield Black Lives Matter founder Sunshine Clemons told a story of the difficulty her daughter had in finding local Black history for a school assignment, adding Black stories should be as easy to find in Springfield as other peoples’.

Park Service representatives said with the Lincoln Home National Historic Site just blocks from the race riot site, a staff is already in place in Springfield. If the idea of a race riot monument advances far enough, the secretary of the interior will present it to Congress.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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