In Lincoln's Shadow: The 1908 Race Riot in Springfield, Illinois - Softcover

Senechal De La Roche, Roberta

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0809329093 ISBN 13: 9780809329090

Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press, 2008

Synopsis

Winner of the Gustavus Myers Center Award for the Study of Human Rights in the United States!
Winner of the Illinois State Historical Society Superior Achievement Award!

This detailed case study of the 1908 race riot in Springfield, Illinois, which began only a few blocks from Abraham Lincoln’s family home, explores the social origins of rioting by whites against the city’s African American community after a white woman alleged that a black man had raped her. Over two days rioters wrecked black-owned businesses, burned neighborhoods to the ground, killed two black men, and injured many others.

Author Roberta Senechal de la Roche draws from a wide range of sources to describe the riot, identify the rioters and their victims, and challenge previous interpretations that attribute rioting to interracial competition for jobs, housing, or political influence. Written in a direct and clear style, In Lincoln’s Shadow documents a violent explosion of racial hatred that shocked the nation and reveals the complexity of white racial attitudes in the early twentieth century.

About this title

About the Author

Roberta Senechal de la Roche is a professor of history at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.  She has written several works on various forms of collective violence, such as lynching, rioting, and terrorism. 
 

Edition details

• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0809329093
• ISBN 13: 9780809329090
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 264