Biden will designate 1908 Springfield race riot site as national monument

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden gestures as he delivers remarks on Medicare drug price negotiations, at an event with Vice President Kamala Harris (not pictured) in Prince George's County, Maryland, U.S., August 15, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Friday will designate a national monument to commemorate a 1908 race riot in Springfield, Illinois, that left several people dead, hundreds injured and destroyed dozens of Black-owned businesses and homes.

In August 1908, mobs of white residents tore through Illinois' capital city under the pretext of meting out judgment against two Black men. After authorities secretly moved the prisoners from the jail and sent them to another lockup miles away, the mob took out their anger on the city's Black population.