Learn more about Black history during the event in Oak Ridge Cemetery.

During the Race Riot, a mob of white residents murdered at least six Black Americans, burned Black homes and businesses and attacked hundreds of residents for no other reason than the color of their skin. In the aftermath of the riot, the NAACP was formed.

This is the second phase of an ongoing preservation project at the site.

Her long career included serving at the Springfield-based museum since 2019.

Lauren Gleason, interim volunteer coordinator of Illinois State Historic Sites in Springfield, and Margo Carlen, volunteer services coordinator at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, discuss the importance of volunteers to nonprofits and opportunities available.

About 100 artifacts are shown as 3D images. They can be enlarged, turned upside down or spun around. Details about each help bring them to life.

Barack Obama launched his campaign for president in 2007 at the Old State Capitol in downtown Springfield.

“The people of Sangamon have cast me off,” he wrote to his old New Salem friend. “It would astonish if not amuse, the older citizens of your county … to learn that I have been put down here as the candidate of pride, wealth, and aristocratic family distinction.”

Marcel Tworek and Justin Blandford discuss the Old State Capitol being added to the National Park Service's National Underground Railroad Network of Freedom.

In a first-of-its-kind hire last month, the Illinois State Museum added a director of tribal relations – a pioneering role in the institution’s 145-year-history. Heather Miller will be responsible for building and repairing relationships between the Springfield-based museum and Native American tribes with historical ties to the state, specifically when it comes to how the state has handled native artifacts and remains.