What is certain is that the massacre cast a long shadow for decades, with fear of reprisals silencing those who witnessed and survived the terror. The per capita income for Helena is $13,028. I am wondering if any group, agency, or government entity ever developed a list of the 100 or 237 black lynchings in 1919 in the Elaine area during that evil time in black history. [Editors note: A professor at UA Little Rock is working to compile such a list.]. New York: Pegasus Books, 2020. [37] The felled trees slowed Fagan's main attack,[38] which was on the Upper Little Rock Road,[39] and forced the Confederates to leave their supply wagons and cannons behind. Corrections? In Phillips County, this struggle directly challenged planter dominance. All Rights Reserved. For additional information: The wife of Frank Moore had hidden for four weeks. They seek redress, not in the form of apologies, but in recognition of the harm done, and of the way generations continue to suffer the consequences. Colonel Isaac Jenks, commander of the U.S. troops at Elaine, recorded the number of African Americans killed by U.S. troops as only two. I first learned of the Elaine Massacre today, February 7, 2017, and I am both saddened and angered. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.5 males. On the Laps of Gods: The Red Summer of 1919 and the Struggle for Justice that Remade a Nation. The Edwardian Inn is located on land occupied by Union forces during the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.[14]. In fact, local police were complicit in the killing of untold numbers of African-Americans. VHS Documentary. In their view a deliberately planned insurrection had occurred, where black sharecroppers had intended to murder the plantation owners to seize the land. Helena is the birthplace of many notable people including prominent African Americans and Arkansas' former senior United States senator, Blanche Lincoln. Edgar Hoover and the Red Summer of 1919. Journal of American Studies 28 (April 1994): 3959. So sad. 72201. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 3.28. The main attack broke through Battery C, but Union troops fended off the attackers and sealed the breach. [46] Obstructions on the line of approach also disorganized Price's ranks. Late in the evening of Sept. 30, black sharecropper families gathered in the Hoop Spur church near Elaine. [34] To protect Fagan's flank, Brooks' men were sent up the Lower Little Rock Road at around 1:30 am;[35] the detachment opened the battle in the early dawn by clashing with Union pickets. According to the United States Census Bureau, Helena had a total area of 8.9 square miles (23km2), all land. [32] Their plans were also hampered by poor reconnaissance. The racial makeup of Helena is 67.93% Black or African American, 30.59% White, 0.13% Native American, 0.60% Asian, 0.17% from other races, and 0.59% from two or more races. 100 years after hundreds of African Americans were reportedly killed in Elaine, Arkansas, a memorial is set to bring details of the tragedy to light Some observers say the number of people who. Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. Helena, AR 72342 Phone: (870) 338-5555 Phillips County Criminal Records Phillips County records their criminal activity in the form of criminal records. Research Materials for Blood in Their Eyes: The Elaine Race Massacres of 1919. Online at https://archive.org/details/TheArkansasRaceRiot (accessed August 16, 2022). 1861-02-12 State troops seize US munitions in . 10. He praised his troops for their restraint in suppressing the rebellion. Later in the year, Union troops used Helena as a staging ground for their successful campaign to capture Little Rock, Arkansas. Black guards returned the fire, killing a white agent of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. This neglect by the government came in the face of people who merely sought to exercise their basic rights to secure a lawyer to defend their property. The confessions of the black men had been secured through torture. Marking a Tragedy. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, September 29, 2019, pp. Brough once again stayed their executions until the Arkansas Supreme Court could again review the cases. With the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, the Confederate forces in the Trans-Mississippi were cut off from the rest of the Confederacy. The descendants of the massacre have begun to organize to make their stories heard. The Confederates charged Fort Curtis in their last attack, but the heavy artillery inside kept the attack from reaching the fort. The death toll was listed at 23, and many others were seriously injured. Evidence shows that the mobs of whites slaughtered African Americans in and around Elaine. As for me, I have a timeline of ten years, 1910 to 1920, in the Delta of Bogy Township, Jefferson, Arkansas, just below Elaine, Arkansas. [69][b], With Price's men shredded, Fagan's men exhausted, and the cavalry not making any progress, Holmes decided to order a withdrawal at 10:30 am. ed. Others had their charges dismissed or ultimately were not prosecuted. One hundred years ago this week, one of the worst episodes of racial violence in American history unfolded in Elaine, Ark., a small town on the Mississippi. Smith, C. Calvin, ed. Online at https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/2544/ (accessed November 9, 2022). In December 1860, the state of South Carolina seceded from the United States, as a result of several disagreements with the federal government, slavery chief among them. [4] Beginning in late April, Union (United States) forces followed up on the victory at Pea Ridge by moving into Arkansas, threatening the state capital of Little Rock, and occupying the Mississippi River town of Helena on July 12. [98] The Confederate repulse at Helena had preserved the Union bridgehead in eastern Arkansas, and had parried an attempt to break Union control of the Mississippi River. HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. In a final act of disrespect, they tied her dress over her head and left her body on the side of the road for several days. Thrown into this highly combustible mix was the return to the United States of black soldiers who often exhibited a less submissive attitude within the Jim Crow society around them. On the other hand, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in New York, which had sent Field Secretary Walter White to investigate the events in Elaine, contested such allegations from the outset. Dunaway, L. S. What A Preacher Saw Through a Keyhole in Arkansas. Little Rock: Parke-Harper Publishing Company, 1925. Major support provided through a partnership with the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism. [88] The historian Ed Bearss reports Union losses as 57 killed, 146 wounded, and 36 missing for a total of 239,[89] and historian Thomas W. Cutrer provides the same figures as Bearss. The conflict began on the night of September 30, 1919, when approximately 100 African Americans, mostly sharecroppers on the plantations of white landowners, attended a meeting of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America at a church in Hoop Spur (Phillips County), three miles north of Elaine. The Arkansas Gazette reported at least fifteen black bodies in Helena's streets and it's outskirts. (2000) 6,323; (2010) 12,282. Many families described how they had run into the woods for safety from bloodthirsty mobs, hoping to surrender themselves to the federal troops for safety. Richard Hall asked my father to come to Mississippi to visit him. Visualizing the Red Summer. For additional information: Anthony, Steven. Arkansas has a rich history of movie theaters, many that hold a spot on the National Register of Historic Places and are still in operation today. [24] The Union garrison would face the coming attack with 4,129 men. New York: Crown, 2008. See this venue in scenes from the 2004 film, "Walk the Line . The troops were aided by seven machine guns. Whitaker, Robert. The Underlying Causes of the Elaine Riot of 1919. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 20 (Spring 1961): 95104. Updated: Aug. 19, 2020 at 8:40 AM PDT. New York: St. Martins, 2011. [59] The cannons in Battery C were manned by men from the 33rd Missouri Infantry Regiment, and they, along with a portion of the 33rd Iowa, poured a deadly fire into Parsons' men, while Battery B fired at McRae's brigade. The trials were a joke. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com. My mother said she believed his uncle Richard was there, but he was afraid to come outside for fear someone would be there to take him back to Arkansas. (Union leader Robert Lee Hill was hidden by friends during the violence and later escaped to Kansas.) The re-trials of the Ware defendants began on May 3, 1920. HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. Consequently, plantation owners and lumber mills had to pay higher wages to have the cotton picked or timber milled. The community, originally settled in 1797 and first called Monticello and then St. Francis, grew around a warehouse built for barge shipping. When he returned home, 150 men came to ransack his house, seizing his union meeting minutes and his Masonic lodge books. How could anyone treat people with such horrendous disregard and violence? Give a donation in someones name to mark a special occasion, honor a friend or colleague or remember a beloved family member. Update (July 30): HELENA-WEST HELENA, AR - A man found shot to death on a city street earlier this week has now been identified. One African-American, William Pickens, described the region as the American Congo. Elaine, though an isolated plantation region, was part of the broader social upheaval following World War I that came in the form of massive strikes and racial confrontations, both at home and abroad. In Moore v. Dempsey, the court in 1923 overturned the convictions of six of the Elaine 12, arguing that the confessions had been secured through torture. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997. Brough issued a stay of the executions to permit an appeal to the Arkansas Supreme Court after the motions were denied. Williams, Lee E., and Lee E. Williams II. Central Arkansas Library System, Little Rock, Arkansas. St. Francis National Forest is immediately to the north. The purpose of the meeting, one of several by black sharecroppers in the Elaine area during the previous months, was to obtain better payments for their cotton crops from the white plantation owners who dominated the area during the Jim Crow era. Workers also had to buy food, clothing, household wares, tools, seed and fertilizer at the plantation commissary, which charged exorbitant interest rates. [16] Holmes and Fagan reached Clarendon on June 26. McRae sent about 200 men to attack the battery, but they were unsuccessful. Barry, John M. Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America. Dillard, Tom. Donations made to the CALS Foundation are tax-deductible for United States federal income tax purposes. (Students Tapping Academic Resources for Success) Academy (alternative school), This page was last edited on 26 April 2023, at 19:58. Krugler, David F. 1919, The Year of Racial Violence: How African Americans Fought Back. Anyone can read what you share. [7], On June 9, Holmes learned that the strength of the Union forces in Helena was about 3,000 or 4,000 men, and decided against an attack. White wrote in the Chicago Daily News on October 19, 1919, that the belief there had been an insurrection was only a figment of the imagination of Arkansas whites and not based on fact. He said, White men in Helena told me that more than one hundred Negroes were killed. Famed journalist and anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett secretly interviewed some of the prisoners in Helena, from which she produced the pamphlet The Arkansas Race Riot. This work also challenged allegations of an insurrection and documented the torture and other depredations the prisoners had suffered. For historic sites related to the battle, see. My anger comes from this being hidden/erased from history like the lives that were taken that day. Courageously, she dressed up as a sharecropper and went to Arkansas. . Online at https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/2019/08/02/to-those-known-and-unknown (accessed August 16, 2022). From Race Riot to Sit-in: 1919 to the 1960s. According to Christ, Prentiss lost 220 of the 4,129 men he took into battle: 57 killed, 127 wounded, and 36 missing. On November 5, 2019, the Elaine Twelve were memorialized on the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail in Little Rock. [96], Most of the Confederates withdrew from the area the next morning,[97] falling back to Jacksonport,[59] although Walker's men remained behind to harass any Union troops that sallied forth from the city. Omissions? Whayne, Jeannie M. Black Farmers in the Red Autumn: A Review Essay. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 68 (Autumn 2009): 327336. [62] Price's Missouri sharpshooters found positions from which they could pick off the gunners in Battery C.[63], Price's first attack was repulsed, as was a second. This article is about the Civil War battle. Anthony, Steven. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Calls went out to the governor for federal troops. The information you have provided is great for families that lost people and is greatly needed. Without Clayton's men first being driven from behind the levee, Rightor's Hill could not be taken. Many wept as they told of murder, land theft, forced migration and the legacies of living in a region where fear of retribution silenced people over generations. [75] Price then ordered Parsons to attack Battery D, but was informed that McRae had already been ordered to do that. Gov. [15] Moving through swamps resulted in the loss of many accompanying animals and wagons. The median age was 32 years. Selecting a player's name will bring up his statistics page and selecting a column title (Birthplace, Debut Year, Final Year) will allow you to re-sort the data. The. The Elaine Massacre and Arkansas: A Century of Atrocity and Resistance, 18191919. The Elaine Riot of 1919: Race, Class, and Labor in the Arkansas Delta. PhD diss., University of WisconsinMilwaukee, 2019. Take a look at these 10 abandoned places in Arkansas. Marmaduke followed up the bombardment with an attack against Battery A, but fog that had concealed the advance dissipated and the attack was repulsed by the 29th Iowa, who mounted a counterattack. Pre-European Exploration, Prehistory through 1540, European Exploration and Settlement, 1541 through 1802, Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood, 1803 through 1860, Civil War through Reconstruction, 1861 through 1874, Post-Reconstruction through the Gilded Age, 1875 through 1900, Early Twentieth Century, 1901 through 1940, World War II through the Faubus Era, 1941 through 1967, Divergent Prosperity and the Arc of Reform, 19682022, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/2544/, http://history.msu.edu/files/2010/04/Mark-Ellis.pdf, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/18/a-rural-town-confronts-its-buried-history-of-mass-killings-of-black-americans, https://lynching.cnsmaryland.org/2021/11/14/two-narratives-how-a-1919-massacre-tore-elaine-ark-apart/, https://prospect.org/justice/arkansas-reparations-elaine-race-massacre/, https://www.facingsouth.org/2020/10/descendants-arkansas-elaine-massacre-victims-push-restorative-justice, https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/2019/08/02/to-those-known-and-unknown, https://www.npr.org/2022/12/11/1137090651/elaine-massacre-tulsa-race-riot, https://archive.org/details/TheArkansasRaceRiot. Because Price had not yet attacked, Fagan's men came under fire from both Battery D and Battery C.[49] Fagan's Confederates broke through the second Union line, then a third and fourth, but then halted at about 7:00 am, their attack spent. [30] The Confederates had support from the local white populace. To be released, the men would have to plead guilty to second-degree murder and a sentence of five years from the date they were first incarcerated in the Arkansas State Penitentiary. Animal rescue groups from across the country are converging on the Humane Society of the Delta in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, faced with the challenge of evaluating . With labor conflicts escalating throughout the country at the end of World War I, government and business interpreted the demands of labor increasingly as the work of foreign ideologies, such as Bolshevism, that threatened the foundation of the American economy. Gov. [2] Fighting occurred to the north in Missouri during 1861,[3] but in early March 1862, Confederate forces were defeated in northern Arkansas at the Battle of Pea Ridge. The town was at the center of a rapidly changing lumber and plantation economy known for harsh working conditions. The governor, who was reported as saying he was going to Elaine to obtain correct information, accepted the authority of the committee in return for its commitment that no lynchings would take place in Helena (Phillips County). The white power structure in Phillips County formed a Committee of Seven, made of influential planters, businessmen, and elected officials, to investigate the cause of the disturbances. The white leaders put forward their view that black residents had been about to revolt. Helena-West Helena School District operates schools in what was Helena. Wormser, Richard, director. Colonel Jencks sent all of the white women and children to Helena by train, ordered the immediate disarming of everyone and authorized the killing of black insurgents who failed to disarm. The Memphis Press stated that white locals were so enraged that they were firing bullets into black corpses as they left Helena en route to Elaine. State police say Officer Wallace was shot around 6:11 p.m. Thursday outside the Delta Inn on U.S. Highway 49 in Helena-West Helena. To Those Known and Unknown: The Elaine Massacre Memorial. Arkansas Times, August 2019, pp. Race relations in this area of Arkansas are currently quite strained for a number of reasons, including the events of 1919. Anatomy of Four Race Riots: Racial Conflict in Knoxville, Elaine (Arkansas), Tulsa and Chicago, 19191921. - Police in Helena-West Helena are investigating a deadly shooting that happened on Friday night. [97] Vicksburg had surrendered on July 4, and the Confederate garrison at Port Hudson, Louisiana fell within a week. Women received domestic allotment checks from men in the military, giving them cash beyond the control of planters. [48] They were now in front of Battery D.[50], Marmaduke has his own problems in his sector on the line. 1831-12-25 Louisiana & Arkansas are first states to observe Christmas as holiday. Brough, requesting that U.S. troops be sent to Elaine. [44] Brooks' men became disorganized and did not reform until 8:00 am. [85] Walker's withdrawal occurred at about 2:00 pm. After hiding for two days in the woods, the Colemans returned home to find dead bodies of women and children scattered about their community. Holmes and Price arrived on the hill, and finding that the Union guns could not be used, ordered Tilden's Missouri Battery and Marshall's Arkansas Battery to begin to come up. They stole Wares cow, two mules, one horse, a farm wagon, his Ford car and various household goods. The City of Helena is located in Phillips County in the State of Arkansas. [69] Believing a full-fledged attack to be a suicide charge, McRae had his men simply fire on the rifle pits in hopes of diverting attention away from Fagan's command. [13], Helena, Arkansas is home to historic buildings such as the Sidney H. Horner House and the Centennial Baptist Church. The union had contracted with lawyer Ulysses S. Bratton, whose son, Ocier, was at this meeting. They shot him and left him to die. The cases of the Elaine Twelve were litigated on two separate tracks. [64] The advance up the hill had also thrown the Confederates into disarray. They produced a predictable narrative that resembled those dating back to slavery. Males had a median income of $27,203 versus $17,250 for females. When Abraham Lincoln, the newly elected President of the United States, called for 75,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion, this proved the catalyst for the southern state of Arkansas to secede and join the Confederacy. Two Narratives: How a 1919 Massacre Tore Elaine, Ark., Apart. Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, November 15, 2021. https://lynching.cnsmaryland.org/2021/11/14/two-narratives-how-a-1919-massacre-tore-elaine-ark-apart/ (accessed August 16, 2022). Descendant of Arkansas Elaine Massacre Victims Push for Restorative Justice. Facing South, October 7, 2020. https://www.facingsouth.org/2020/10/descendants-arkansas-elaine-massacre-victims-push-restorative-justice (accessed August 16, 2022). [58] Each wasted time waiting for the other to advance. Prentiss ordered the other three batteries to fire on Graveyard Hill, as well as Tyler, two cannons in reserve, and four cannons from Battery K, 1st Missouri Light Artillery emplaced on Lower Little Rock Road. Additional support provided by the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation Inc. The trials began the next week, with John Elvis Miller leading the prosecution. [12] On June 22, Holmes revised the plan, ordering Price to concentrate at a location known as Switzer's, instead of Cotton Plant. [43] Meanwhile, on the Lower Little Rock road, Brooks ran into trouble, taking fire from Battery K, 1st Missouri Light Artillery Regiment and Tyler. Blood in Their Eyes: The Elaine Massacre of 1919. [1] The American Civil War began on April 12, when Confederate troops bombarded Fort Sumter. [48] The 43rd Indiana Infantry Regiment had been facing Fagan's Confederates, and was reinforced by parts of the 33rd Iowa Infantry Regiment and the 35th Missouri Infantry Regiment, under orders from Salomon. In 1925, Sharpe Dunaway, an employee of the Arkansas Gazette, alleged that soldiers in Elaine had committed one murder after another with all the calm deliberation in the world, either too heartless to realize the enormity of their crimes, or too drunk on moonshine to give a continental darn.. Vigilantes from Mississippi seized another union member, Lula Black, and her four children from her house, knocked her down, pistol whipped and kicked her, then took her to jail. Elaine Race Massacre: Red Summer in Arkansas. Holmes planned and executed three different failed attacks on the town. Marmaduke paused his men, who were fighting dismounted, to wait for artillery to be brought up and for Walker's men to arrive in support. They still believe non-whites are a threat to their way of life. The violence occurred not only in the more familiar urban centers of Chicago and Washington, but also in the hinterlands of Omaha; Charleston, S.C.; Longview, Tex. and the Arkansas Riot Cases; Ida Wells Barnett, The Elaine Race Riot; Guy Lancaster, The Elaine Massacre and Arkansas: A Century of Atrocity and Resistance, 1819-1919; Grif Stockley, Blood in Their Eyes: The Elaine Arkansas Race Massacre., Nan Elizabeth Woodruff us an emeritus professor of African American studies and modern United States history at Pennsylvania State University and the author of American Congo: The African American Freedom Struggle in the Delta.. [18][19], Helena previously had a Catholic grade school for black children, St. Cyprian School; it closed in 1963. The following morning, Gov. Additional support provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council. [93][94] The battle also destroyed any positive relationships remaining between Holmes and Price,[95] with the former believing that the latter should have reinforced Fagan. Wikipedia On April 10, 1929, an F5 tornado struck northern Jackson County. [68], Fagan's men resumed the attack upon hearing the fighting on Graveyard Hill, and drove the 43rd Indiana and part of the 33rd Iowa from the final Union line in front of Battery D, but were unable to take the Battery itself,[69] having been hit by crossfire while maneuvering through a ravine. In 1811 the steamboat New Orleans called there, opening a prosperous era of river traffic. She was able to go one way. [22] Although Prentiss was in command of the general district around Helena, the garrison itself was operationally commanded by Brigadier General Frederick Salomon, the commander of the division. Enraged citizens fired at the bodies of the dead negroes as they rode out of Helena toward Elaine.. The twelve men were: Frank Moore, Frank Hicks, Ed Hicks, Joe Knox, Paul Hall, Ed Coleman, Alfred Banks, Ed Ware, William Wordlaw, Albert Giles, Joe Fox, and John Martin. Both Holmes and Marmaduke accused Walker of dereliction of duty. On Oct. 31, a grand jury indicted 122 black men and women for offenses ranging from murder to night riding. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Improve this listing Full view All photos (4) Top ways to experience nearby attractions Memphis City Tour with Optional Riverboat Cruise & Sun Studio Add-On Options 438 Recommended Bus Tours from $40.00 per adult There were 2,312 households, out of which 32.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 33.8% were married couples living together, 28.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.3% were non-families. Black people were thus blamed, sentenced and jailed for their own massacre. [54] Walker's men had encountered the felled trees across their path of advance, and though he threw forward a skirmish line, most of his men remained back at the barricades. According to several accounts from white witnesses, both vigilantes and the troops committed acts of barbarism. It is impossible to establish an accurate death toll. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. These records cover murders, rapes, burglaries, arson, motor vehicle theft, assaults, and crimes of a sexual nature. Little Rock: Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, 2002. Lancaster, Guy, ed. When a tribute gift is given the honoree will receive a letter acknowledging your generosity and a bookplate will be placed in a book. Legal disfranchisement stripped them of the vote and an ability to share in any benefits of citizenship. In Helena, the age distribution included 32.5% of the population under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 22.1% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 15.5% who were 65 years of age or older.
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