Monument 1908 Inc.
The material for this page was derived from two State Journal Register articles written by Doug Pokorski with one appearing on Sunday, February 1994, and the other on Tuesday, July 12, 1994.
Even though the infamous riot of Springfield, which lead to the formation of the NAACP, (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), occurred in the first decade of the 20th century, it wasn’t until the last decade of the century before tangible signs of recognition were erected in the city.
In 1992 a committee was appointed by mayor Ossie Langfelder to investigate the possibility of creating a memorial to those who died because of the riot. Nevertheless, it was a not for profit organization that first lead the effort to establish a memorial in the year 1994. This group was the Monument 1908, Inc.
The group’s plans were ambitious and included erecting a 15 foot memorial. While the large memorial was not realized, the group was able to make a lasting contribution in providing grave stones for four of the people who died during, or shortly after the riot.
Carl Madison, a one time president of the local NAACP, was one of the founding members of the group. In email, the author of www.springfieldreconciliation.org, commented to Carl about the great difficulty he, and his family, had experienced in finding the tomb of John Colwell. Carl’s response was: “I am glad you had an opportunity to experience the search for the headstones, just imagine when I searched there were no markers!”
According to Carl’s research, the four graves at Oak Ridge Cemetery never had stones before those placed by Monument 1908.
The four people who are buried at OakRidge are:
- William Donnegan, an African American person lynched by the mob.
- Scott Burton, an African American person lynched by the mod.
- John Colwell, a white person killed in the riot.
- Kate Howard, a white person who committed suicide after being indicted as an instigator of the riot.
Kate Howard was included because her death was directly related to the riot.
At the time that the State Journal Register article was published, Carl was still looking for the grave sites of other people killed in connection with the riot. According to the Lincoln Library’s Sangamon Valley Collection, three other white men were killed being:
- Frank Delmore
- Louis Johnston, buried in Mechanicsburg, IL
- J.W. Scott
Besides the tombstones, Monument Inc. worked with the City of Springfield in erecting eight markers around downtown memorializing the event.