Editing Cairo, Illinois (section)

===Lynchings===
[[File:WillJamesMob.gif|thumb|An estimated crowd of 10,000 gathered for the [[lynching]] of Will James on November 11, 1909.]]

Cairo's turbulent history of [[race relations]] is marked by the 1909 spectacle [[lynching]] of black resident [[William "Froggie" James|William James]]. In 1900, Cairo had a population of nearly 13,000. Of that total, approximately 5,000 residents were [[African-American]], or 38 percent. In 1900, this was an unusually high black population for a town of Cairo's size in the North. Five percent of all black residents in the state of Illinois lived here. Later in the early 20th century, [[Chicago]] became the center of black life in the state, as it was the destination of tens of thousands of migrants during the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]].

The Illinois constitution of 1818 allowed for limited slavery in the salt mines and allowed current slave owners to retain their slaves. The General Assembly also passed legislation that severely curtailed the rights of free blacks residing in the state and discouraged the migration of free blacks. If a black person was unable to present proof of their freedom they could be fined $50 or sold by the sheriff to the highest bidder. Not long after the passage of the constitution, the state's general assembly adopted a pro-slavery resolution that announced its approval of slavery in slave-holding states and at the same time condemned the formation of abolition societies within Illinois’ boundaries.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www2.illinois.gov/dnrhistoric/Research/pages/afamhist.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805131910/https://www2.illinois.gov/dnrhistoric/Research/Pages/AfAmHist.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 5, 2019 |title=African Americans in Illinois |website=Historic Reservation Division }}</ref>

Although Black people comprised a large proportion of the Cairo population, they were frequently discriminated against in jobs and housing. Race relations were strained in 1900.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/11/11/1909-will-james-the-froggie-lynched-cairo-illinois |title=1909: Will James, 'the Froggie', lynched in Cairo |date=November 11, 2009 |access-date=August 16, 2012}}</ref> The state passed an anti-lynching law in 1905.

On the night of November 11, 1909, two men were [[lynched]]. The first was [[Lynching of William "Froggie" James|William James]], an African American accused of the murder of Anna Pelly, a young white woman killed three days earlier, although there was no physical or circumstantial evidence connecting him to the crime.<ref name="james">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2649083?read-now=1&loggedin=true&seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents " 'An Outrageous Proceeding': A Northern Lynching and Enforcement of Anti-Lynching Legislation in Illinois, 1905–1910", ''Journal of Negro History'', 1999],{{jstor|2649083}}</ref> The second man lynched was Henry Salzner, a white man who had allegedly murdered his white wife the previous August.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} A group of civil rights activists in Chicago hired journalist [[Ida B. Wells]] to investigate the lynchings. After the residents had calmed down, Governor Deneen enforced the 1905 anti-lynching law by dismissing Sheriff Davis for failing to protect James and Salzner.<ref name="james"/> Wells sided with the governor against reinstatement.