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The Spring Valley Race Riot of 1895[edit]
The Spring Valley Race Riot of 1895 lasted a week in early August in Spring Valley, Illinois. It began due to high-rising tensions between the Italian and African-American communities over strikes and labor unrest regarding the lack of stable mining jobs there.
Background[edit]
1894 Coal Miners' Strike[edit]
Describe tensions between UMW and Italians, African-Americans... (page 189, 190) from Felix Armfield's "Fire on the Prairies"
Include information about Italians' striking in 1894, due to "poor working conditions and low wages" (Armfield 190).
Death of Barney Rollo[edit]
Riots[edit]
Community Response[edit]
The response from Spring Valley's--and Illinois's--African-American community was swift, as Chicago community leaders sent a letter to Governor Altgeld, expressing outrage at the lack of safety provided by city and state officials. However, the governor did not respond until the next morning, where he said that he would not provide troops to aid Spring Valley residents in the aftermath of the riot.[1] Reverend J.M. Townsend, "the pastor of Quinn Chapel" in Chicago, held meetings with various members of the African-American community, where they began an investigation into the riot, and "raised fourteen hundred dollars" for the Spring Valley community. The investigation concluded that local and state authorities should have responded more promptly to aid the Spring Valley African-American community.
Police Response[edit]
Led by Mayor Martin Delmargo and Bureau County Sherriff Atherton Clark, the police response was tepid at best. The Spring Valley Police did not "'hunt down the criminals,'" nor provided protection for African-American families as they sought to "reenter their homes" in Spring Valley.[1] Their inaction caused these families "to take refuge in the homes of other black residents...[in] Seatonville."[2]
Aftermath[edit]
Black Community Reaction[edit]
Business Community Reaction[edit]
Government Reaction[edit]
Timeline[edit]
1874, 1877 (?), 1880, 1886- labor conflicts involved within Illinois (labor and race conflicts) (LINK: strikebreakers)
April 29, 1889--lock out of mine workers
1890: United Mine Workers were founded
1892: John Altgeld elected governor of Illinois--influence of immigrants in US politics; first foreign-born governor)
1894: Coal miners' strike (April-June)
Sat. Aug. 3--Robbery of Barney Rollo--alleges that four or five black men robbed him
Sun Aug. 4--four or five black men are arrested without a warrnat
--a lynch mob forms outside the jail
--mobs/police: search black people's homes in Spring Valley
Mon, Aug. 5-- Mass meeting of 1,000 people
--marched to Dalzell, violence ensues as their goal is to drive people out and make Spring Valley a white-only town (Link 14th amendment: "equal protection under the laws")
--Seatonville meeting at Union Church (Ida B. Wells is in attendance)
Week of Aug. 5-11: State-wide response from black churches
Aug. 10: Spring Valley under presentation of special police force because local authorities favor the mob
Sat. Aug 15: Trial begins
Sun. Aug 16: Sheriff Atherton Clark issues 36 arrest warrants at coal mine; arrested 23-25 men
Late Nov: Trial ends with seven men sent to prison; the eighth one was under twenty-one, so he was not allowed to go to jail
1908: NAACP is founded
Important People/Organizations[edit]
Gov. John Altgeld: his inaction in part because he responded favorably to immigrant communities' concerns
Mayor Martin Delmargo
Bureau County Sheriff Atherton Clark
United Mine Workers (UMW)
Barney Rollo, "Italian miner...who was mugged by a group of men" and survived the attack
Chicago Mayor Swift
Ida B. Wells--worked with Quinn Chapel to raise funds for riot victims (Waldon 90) (LINK)
Coal miner manager Dalzell
Rev. J.M. Townsend
Maj. John Clinton Buckner--Illinois Representative (pg. 66: Walron, "Lynch Law Must Go")
References[edit]
- Douglass, Frederick (1857). My Bondage and My Freedom: Part I. Life as a Slave, Part II. Life as a Freeman. New York, Auburn: Miller, Orton.
- The Seventh Census of the United States: 1850 - Illinois (PDF). 1850. pp. 693–746.
Sources[edit]
Armfield, Felix. "Fire on the Prairies: The 1895 Spring Valley Race Riot," Journal of Illinois History, vol. 3, no. 3, Autumn 2000, pp. 185-200.
