A former state lawmaker is praising the work of Illinois’ two U.S. senators to have a tragic piece of Springfield’s Black history declared a national historic site.

“Sometimes out of tragedies, you have historic things happen,” said Al Riley, a Democrat from Olympia Fields. “The 1908 race riot in Springfield spurred on development of the NAACP, a great organization which has always concentrated on social justice, voting rights, and so forth.”

Archaeologists connected artifacts – found during part of a massive railroad project – to the riot, in which sixteen people died.