Destination Heartland by Cynthia Clampitt

Author:Cynthia Clampitt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: TRAVEL / Museums, Tours, Points of Interest
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 2022-01-31T00:00:00+00:00

Springfield, IL

While statues, historic markers, and more commemorate Lincoln in places all over Central Illinois (including the town of Lincoln, the only town in the U.S. named for Lincoln before he was president), the greatest concentration in Illinois of Lincoln memorabilia must be Springfield. However, though Lincoln is a key reason for visiting Springfield, that is not all the town offers.

Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum

This small but lovingly developed museum is located a short distance from the Lincoln Monument and Tomb. I was offered, and happily accepted, a guide, which added considerably to my understanding of what was presented. The large main room of the museum is divided into sections that focus on general African American history, Illinois-specific history, and Springfield history. There were blacks in Illinois before there was a United States. More than a century before the Thirteen Colonies revolted against Britain, the French had introduced slavery into what would become Illinois. A few displays focus on this early history, offering details about the French Code Noir, or Black Code, French-Canadian slaveholder Pierre Menard, and the freeborn Jean Baptist Point Du Sable, the half French-half Haitian trader who settled in what would become Chicago with his Potawatomi wife in the 1770s. Other displays move up through the post-Revolution attempts by the newly created United States to prohibit slavery in the Northwest Territory, early African American schools in Illinois, and, in the 1800s, early African American pioneers—many with descendants in Springfield today. Displays along the walls show the old families that settled, built, and still reside in Springfield. My guide said that members of these old families are seen as being essentially the aristocrats of Springfield’s African American community. This history was both heart-rending and heroic.

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