Springfield Sculpture Will Serve as “Continuous Reminder of Race Relations”

Illinois has awarded a $300,000 grant for a sculpture that would commemorate the launch of the NAACP and mark the 100-year anniversary of the 1908 Springfield race riots.

The Capital Development Board, which is in charge of state construction projects, awarded the grant Feb. 5. The sculpture, which is considered a construction project, will be created under the Art in Architecture program.

Since the program began in 1977, more than 600 works of art have been acquired or custom-built.

“The monument is $250,000,” said Kenneth Page, president of the Springfield NAACP. “We’re gonna make everything fit into budget.”

The remaining $50,000 is for the base of the sculpture and the preparation of the land, Page said.

The sculpture will be in Union Square Park near the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, which would be a continuous reminder of race relations, said Dave Blanchette, spokesperson for the Capital Development Board.

The traffic from the museum makes it a good location, he said.

“We knew there would be people from all over the world coming to visit that museum,” said Page. “I knew it had to be in a place where people would see it.”

Some people in Springfield didn’t want the sculpture built, Page said.  The Springfield NAACP therefore took the initiative to Gov. Rod Blagojevich and explained its significance.

The 1908 Springfield race riot started on Aug. 14 after a white mob attacked black residents and business owners. By the end of the two-day riot, four whites and two blacks had died.

Page said he knew that artist Preston Jackson was perfect for this project.  Jackson, 63, has been a professor of sculpture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago since 1989.

“If someone should do this monument,” said Page, “it should be someone close to the soil in that area.”

Blanchette agreed- Jackson was the only artist contacted for the job.

“The state of Illinois and the city of Springfield felt that he would best do just to the sculpture,” Blanchette said.

The sculpture is Jackson’s way of constructing history out of bronze and steel, he said. He has started sketches, but has not finalized any designs.

“This way people can’t help but to question what it’s about,” he said, adding that young people must know this history as well.

After destroying an all-black neighborhood, the mob lynched a black barber. White residents were angry because the city jail secretly released two suspects: one who reportedly sexually assaulted a white woman and the other who was accused of killing a white railroad engineer. The suspects were secretly released because of fear of their safety.

As a direct result of these actions, a group of civil rights activist began to have meetings that later led to the formation of the nationwide NAACP.

Both the Capital Development Board and the Springfield NAACP said the sculpture should be completed by fall. Page hopes to unveil the sculpture at the Illinois State NAACP Convention in October.

“The race riot isn’t something we want to hide,” said Blanchette. “We’re noting how far we have come from 100 years ago.”