Historical marker commemorates 1917 East St. Louis race massacre

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There’s now a historical marker to commemorate the 1917 East St. Louis race massacre in Illinois.

According to the Belleville News-Democrat, East St. Louis and Illinois state historical societies unveiled the marker on Sunday, the anniversary of the July 2, 1917, attack on Black men, women and children by a white mob.

The mob took the Black citizens off of streetcars and beat, shot and stoned them before hanging them from lampposts and dumping their remains in a nearby creek. They also robbed and set fire to homes belonging to Black residents.

The NAACP estimated that 100 to 200 Black people died as a result of the attack and that hundreds were injured. 

The marker was unveiled and dedicated at the Wyvetter Younge Higher Education Campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in East St. Louis, located at 601 James R. Thompson Boulevard. 

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Reginald Petty, founder of the East St. Louis Historical Society and a longtime civic and civil rights leader, historian and consultant from East St. Louis, said nobody should graduate from East Side without knowing about the East St. Louis race riot.

 “They should also know about Miles Davis and about all of these historical people,” Petty added, “and there are hundreds of them, from East St. Louis, that they should be proud of.” 

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