 In Springfield, such attitudes were inflamed by white Americans who had immigrated from Kentucky (across the Ohio River), from the border area of southern Illinois, and also from other areas across the south, seeking work in the mines and railroads.These southern immigrants brought the heightened racial animus with them that was associated with the segregated racial culture of the region.Following the Civil War, blacks began migrating north for work and also in search of areas less socially oppressive than the south.