IIN Grant Recipient Launches Cairo African American Heritage Trail

The Cairo African American Heritage Trail & Oral History Project officially launched on Friday, December 5, with more than 100 residents and local leaders gathered at Cairo High School. Funded primarily by an Illinois Innovation Network seed grant, the trail brings to life the lesser-known history of Cairo’s African American community and how those experiences contributed to the town’s cultural legacy as a whole.

Cairo Historical Preservation Project Inc., in partnership with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, created the project for others to learn about the history that defines Cairo’s vibrant African American Community.

Magdalena Novoa, an assistant professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a board member of Preservation Illinois Board of Directors, told the Southeast Missourian in an interview: “I think that this history, because of how it has basically evolved and unfolded, has made Cairo (be) forgotten many times about the important role that it has played in state history and the country’s history. As citizens and as people, it’s important to remember these stories that are marginalized or are made invisible because it helps us to remember the strength that we have as human beings, and also the potential of being able to resist and to fight for our rights.”

Cairo’s African American history includes its role in developing the Underground Railroad, the creation of Fort Defiance during the Civil War and the racial segregation and violence in the 1900s, including the 1909 lynching of William “Froggie” James, a Black man accused of raping and murdering Anna Pelley, a 24-year-old white woman.

“I think it’s interesting when you hear stories of these different people (who) are part of the same community that has a very significant but also moving history," Navoa continued. "You realize that the strength of the African American community in Cairo (and) similarly to other places where, despite the struggles and despite the violence, they always find (the) spaces of Black joy and creating community networks.”

Cairo is a critical place for learning the extensive history of racial segregation and violence in America, as well as African American struggles for freedom and equality.

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