The Black History Commission of
Arkansas, in conjunction with the Arkansas State Archives, will present a free,
half-day symposium on the Elaine Massacre of 1919 from 9:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 1, at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center.
Check-in starts at 9:15 a.m. Teachers
earn three professional development credits by attending. Tickets are available
at http://archives.arkansas.gov or via Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-elaine-massacre-100-years-later-tickets-60087049984.
Special speakers Drs. Brian Mitchell,
Cherisse Jones-Branch and Guy Lancaster will speak on the history of the
massacre, its aftermath and ongoing influence. The Elaine Massacre is the
deadliest racial confrontation in Arkansas history and among the bloodiest
racial conflicts in the U.S. At least 200 black people were killed by white
people over the course of several days in September 1919.
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| U.S. Army troops took African American men prisoner during the massacre, 1919. |
Dr. Brian Mitchell, professor of history at
the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, will examine the lives of the
Progressive Household Workers Union whose meetings for fair pay from white
landowners rattled the white community. Mitchell’s discussion will include what
happened to surviving African American union and community members in
the wake of the massacre.
Dr. Cherisse Jones-Branch, a history
professor at Arkansas State University and member of the Black History
Commission, will speak about how women experienced the Elaine Massacre and on
women’s individual and organizational activism on behalf of the men who were
imprisoned after the massacre. Jones-Branch has been part of a collaborative project with the UA Little
Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture, local historians and community
members to commemorate the 100 year anniversary. Her forthcoming manuscript, “Better Living By Their Own Bootstraps: Black
Women’s Activism in Rural Arkansas, 1913-1965,” is under review
for publication with the University of Arkansas Press.
Dr. Guy Lancaster will address the
terminology used to describe what happened in Elaine and how these terms speak
to different facets of the violence perpetrated against African Americans. Lancaster
is the editor of the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, a project
of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at the Central Arkansas Library
System. He also is an adjunct professor and freelance writer and has authored
and edited multiple works on racial violence in Arkansas.
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| Charles Hillman Brough addressed a crowd in Elaine in October 1919. |
The Elaine Massacre started Sept. 30, 1919,
when African American sharecroppers met to discuss better pay for their cotton.
During a union meeting, shots were fired, sparking mass killings. Up to 1,000
white people from surrounding Arkansas counties and as far away as Tennessee traveled
to Elaine to take part in the massacre. U.S. troops were eventually called in, and
the white mob finally dispersed Oct. 2.
Afterward, more than 200 African Americans
were put in jail or stockades, where there were reports of torture. A Phillips
County grand jury charged 122 African Americans with crimes connected with the
massacre, and a jury convicted 12 African American men of murder. The 12 men
were sentenced to death but were eventually released after long court battles.
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| Twelve men were sentenced to death in connection with the massacre. |
