Springfield, Missouri

====Lynchings====
From the period after [[Reconstruction era|Reconstruction]] into the early 20th century, lynchings of [[freedmen]] and their descendants occurred in some cities and counties in Missouri, particularly in former slaveholding areas.

On April 14, 1906, a white mob broke into the Springfield county jail, and [[Lynching in the United States|lynched]] two black men, Horace Duncan and Fred Coker, for allegedly sexually assaulting Mina Edwards, a white woman. Later they returned to the jail, where other African-American prisoners were being held, and pulled out Will Allen, who had been accused of murdering a white man. All three suspects were hanged from the Gottfried Tower, which held a replica of the [[Statue of Liberty]]

Their bodies were burned in the courthouse square by a mob of more than 2,000 white residents. Judge Azariah W. Lincoln called for a grand jury, but no one was prosecuted. The proceedings were covered by national newspapers, including the ''[[New York Times]]'' and ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''.<ref name="aamuseum"/>

Duncan's and Coker's employer testified that they were at his business at the time of the crime against Edwards, and other evidence suggested that they and Allen were all innocent.<ref name="aamuseum"/><ref name="harper">[https://books.google.com/books?id=QRR-xMoF0BIC&q=William+Allen,+Springfield,+April+15,+1906 Kimberly Harper, ''White Man's Heaven: The Lynching and Expulsion of Blacks in the Southern Ozarks, 1894-1909''], University of Arkansas Press, 2012, pp. 144-145</ref> These three are the only recorded lynchings in Greene County.<ref name="lynching">[https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf ''Lynching in America''/ ''Supplement: Lynchings by County, 3rd edition''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023063004/https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf |date=October 23, 2017 }}, Montgomery, Alabama: Equal Justice Initiative, 2015, p. 7</ref>

But the extrajudicial murders were part of a pattern of discrimination, repeated violence and intimidation of African Americans in this city and southwest Missouri from 1894 to 1909, in an attempt to expel them from the region.<ref name="harper1"/> Whites in the bordering [[Lawrence County, Missouri|Lawrence County]] also lynched three African-American men in this period.<ref name="lynching"/> After the mass lynching in Springfield, many African Americans left the region.<ref name="harper1">Harper (2012), ''White Man's Heaven''</ref>

A historic plaque on the southeast corner of the Springfield courthouse square commemorates Duncan, Coker, and Allen, the three victims of mob violence.<ref name="aamuseum">{{cite web|url=http://oaahm.omeka.net/exhibits/show/exodus/ozarksraceriots/springfield|title=Ozarks Afro-American History Museum Online {{!}} Springfield: April 14, 1906 · Lynchings and Exodus|website=oaahm.omeka.net|access-date=October 31, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historicjoplin.org/?p=434|title=Historic Joplin » Blog Archive » 105th Anniversary of Springfield's 'Easter Offering'|website=www.historicjoplin.org|access-date=October 31, 2016}}</ref>