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“It’s critical that this should be known in our schools. It should be a part of the school curriculum,” said Reginald Petty, whose grandfather told him stories about the massacre.
One of the country’s most violent race riots — white mobs lynching, shooting and burning Black men, women and children — will now be remembered with a commemorative marker near SIUE’s East St. Louis campus.
The St. Clair County coroner’s records from the time period contained death certificates of five Black men, each identified only as “John Doe,” who were found in Cahokia Creek during and in the days after the massive riot.
A group of cousins, known as the Prestons, often text each other with pictures or documents related to their late uncles and fathers.
“Those guys, they were just proud Black men— capable, talented, smart and they were role models for all of us,” an East St. Louis native said.