President Joe Biden is scheduled to sign a proclamation on Friday designating a national monument at the site of the 1908 race riot in Springfield, Illinois. The ceremony, to be held in the Oval Office, will feature civil rights leaders and community members from Springfield, the hometown of President Abraham Lincoln.
The riot, which occurred in August 1908, saw mobs of white residents rampage through the city following the arrest of two Black men. The violence resulted in the lynching of two innocent Black men, the burning of homes and businesses in Black neighborhoods, and the displacement of families.
