The Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum (AAHM) has been selected to receive an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) FY 2024 Inspire! Grants for Small Museums in the amount of $74,878. The grant is for a two-year period from September 1, 2024 through September 1, 2026.
The IMLS Inspire! Grant will support the development of an updated interpretation of the 1908 Springfield Race Riot for permanent installation in one of the museum’s new galleries planned for the renovation of the museum building. This project builds on the work of Something So Horrible: The Springfield Race Riot of 1908, a temporary exhibit commemorating the centennial of the riots and displayed by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM) in 2008. The exhibit represented the first comprehensive interpretation of the riot within a museum.
In 2014, during a planned excavation of the area where the riots occurred, new artifacts were discovered, reinvigorating conversations around the event and indicating a clear desire within the community to (1) reconcile the events and impact of the 1908 Race Riot, (2) update existing interpretation of the event, and (3) create a permanent, public commemoration of the riot within Springfield.
Responding to these expressed desires, the community of Springfield and local stakeholders, including the AAHM, the city, the Springfield Branch NAACP, the Illinois State Museum (ISM), the Springfield Equal Justice Project, and the National Park Service are working to develop a series of complementary exhibits and memorials for the riot.
In August 2024, President Biden designated the site as a National Monument. While these projects are vital to understanding the significance of the event, a clear gap exists as none of the proposed and in-progress projects include a comprehensive examination documenting the lived experience and continued effects of the 1908 Race Riot.
This exhibit will examine the riot through the lens of four themes centered around the concepts of: (1) race and economics; (2) lived experience of the riot; (3) persisting patterns; and (4) terminology, context, and changing perceptions. The exhibit will create an experience that allows visitors to understand the factors that led to the 1908 riot and hear personal stories of those who experienced the riot to humanize the event. Further, the exhibit will create space for visitors to self-examine how this event continues to affect their lives.
The exhibit will be developed based on a series of community conversations and focus groups. Once this feedback is collected and organized, the AAHM and the project team with members representing the Abraham Presidential Library and Museum, Illinois State Museum, UIS with collaboration of the NAACP and other community stakeholders will select an exhibit design firm to build the exhibit.
The project will be completed in the fall of 2026.
