In August 1895, Spring Valley experienced the state's most destructive race riot to date, out of which came major legislation prohibiting companies from bringing in squads of men to replace existing workers. Tension between mine owners and union agitators led to a lockout in 1889. Many Italian immigrants arrived to cross the picket lines but eventually staged their own strike in 1894, encouraging the industry to bring in African Americans to break the strike. Relations between the races rapidly deteriorated, leading to the riot that ended the use of black strike breakers. Governor John Peter Altgeld's response to the August 4 attack on the black community by displaced Italian miners ultimately revealed his support of fellow immigrants over African Americans.Felix L. Armfield, "Fire on the Prairies: The 1895 Spring Valley Race Riot", Journal of Illinois History 2000 3(3): 185-200 Another riot erupted in 1895 when recent Polish, Lithuanian, Italian, and Belgian immigrants raided the black section of town and burned, looted, and injured 14 blacks. Black victims of the riot took their attackers to court and used their status as citizens to win the case against the new immigrants.Caroline A. Waldron, "'Lynch-Law Must Go!' Race, Citizenship, and the Other in an American Coal Mining Town", Journal of American Ethnic History (2000) 20#12 pp: 50-77 in JSTOR
