DOCSLIB.ORG

Responding to White Supremacist Violence

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Responding to White Supremacist Violence The United States has not fully reckoned with RESPONDINGthe legacy TO of white WHITE supremacy SUPREMACIST and other forms VIOLENCE A securitized community’s perspective on domestic terrorism January 2021 White supremacist violence is a resurgent threat Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror in communities across the United States. This threat is not a new one, and is in fact rooted in of injustice and exclusion rooted deep within its the deepest, darkest chapters of our nation’s past. Indeed, the current resurgence of white history. From Oak Creek to El Paso to the supremacist violence has ample historical violent insurrection in our nation’s capital on antecedents, including lynchings and other January 6th, 2021, and communities in between, the United States has in recent years immeasurable atrocities that remain largely experienced an increase of white supremacist unacknowledged. A little over a century ago, in violence, particularly mass shootings and other October 1919, a white mob consisting of forms of mass violence. As policymakers, civil soldiers, law enforcement officials, plantation rights advocates, and impacted communities owners, and other vigilantes set upon Black work to confront this threat, we must ensure sharecropper families in the Mississippi delta that civil rights perspectives remain front and town of Elaine, Arkansas. What ensued was a center, lest we jeopardize the rights and weeklong violent reign of terror that left liberties of the very communities we are trying hundreds of Black Americans dead.2 to protect. The stated justification for the Elaine Massacre This issue brief ties the resurgence of white was to suppress an “insurrection” of Black supremacist violence to the “legacy of racial sharecroppers attempting to organize for better terror,”1 considers the importance of centering working conditions.3 Less than two years later, the protection of civil rights in the response to in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a violent white mob white supremacist violence, highlights issues descended upon the city’s wealthy Black arising from the enhancement and expansion of business district and murdered up to three federal counterterrorism authorities since the hundred people and destroyed more than two 9/11 terrorist attacks, and clarifies some thousand homes.4 The 1921 Tulsa Race misconceptions about the distinctions between Massacre is believed to be the single worst “domestic” and “international” terrorism. The incident of racial violence in U.S. history.5 final section of this issue brief features a series of recommendations for effectively responding The details of both cases were suppressed in to white supremacist violence while protecting order to obscure the nature and extent of the civil rights and civil liberties. bloodshed.6 That we have yet to bring closure to these atrocities—and the many more that occurred before and after them— should be an indication that our country has not fully Arab American Institute www.aaiusa.org 1 confronted and acknowledged what has been described as the legacy of racial terror.7 As White supremacist violence, along with other Americans, we must work to address the forms of bias-motivated violence against deepest, darkest moments of our nation’s protected characteristics like race or ethnicity, history. At the same time, we must also contend religion, sexual orientation, gender, disability, with a resurgent threat of white supremacist and gender identity, is fundamentally a civil violence. rights issue. But in recent years, the debate over how to address these threats has increasingly In the last decade, white supremacists have adopted the language of national security.11 To targeted communities and government be sure, in the effort to address, prevent, and institutions with devastating acts of violence. respond to white supremacist violence, the Since 2015, annual statistics from the Federal incorporation of national security perspectives Bureau of Investigation have shown an elevated might be helpful, if not appropriate. But merely level of reported hate crime incidents, including doubling down on flawed national security a consistent increase in the number of reported frameworks will only further jeopardize civil violent hate crime offenses.8 2019 was the rights and civil liberties with little positive deadliest year on record for the second year in impact on public safety. Further, we cannot a row .Given the legacy of racial terror in the effectively address white supremacist violence United States, it is painfully unsurprising that and other forms of bias-motivated violence anti-Black hate crime has accounted for a without also confronting the broader civil rights majority of reported hate crime incidents challenges and systemic inequities to which motivated by race and a plurality of reported they are tied. hate crimes overall since the FBI began producing statistics in 1992.9 The inclusion of racial justice perspectives is critical. The present debate over the policy and The Risk of Increased Securitization and the legal response to acts of white supremacist Exclusion of Civil Rights Voices violence, which depending on the specific circumstances might also fall within the The present threat of white supremacist definition of hate crime, domestic terrorism, violence is not without precedent. In the last international terrorism, or targeted violence, is decade, however, the policy and legal debate not only complicated but also delicate. These over how to address this threat has changed. are complex issues, made exceedingly sensitive Historically, the federal government has by the fact that Americans’ constitutional rights combatted white supremacist violence through hang in the balance. the paradigm of civil rights enforcement. In fact, the oldest federal hate crime statute, Section From the incarceration of Japanese Americans 241 of Title 18, United States Code, is derived during World War II to the Trump from the Enforcement Act of 1870, which was Administration’s efforts to reduce refugee the first of three bills passed during the admissions, target asylum seekers, and bar the Reconstruction Era to protect Black Americans entry of people from several Muslim-majority from acts of violence and intimidation at the countries,12 the federal government has justified hands of organizations like the Ku Klux Klan.10 sweeping constraints on civil rights, civil The Enforcement Acts empowered the federal liberties, and human rights in the name of government to intervene when states failed to national security.13 The last two decades of U.S. the protect the civil rights of their residents, counterterrorism policy are rife with examples of thereby setting an example for federal civil this trend. rights statutes to come. Arab American Institute www.aaiusa.org 2 Enhanced Counterterrorism Authorities in the information related to domestic terrorism, Post-9/11 Era federal law enforcement agencies have not been particularly forthcoming.21 Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Congress and successive administrations have significantly What little public information exists suggests enhanced and expanded the federal that current federal domestic terrorism government’s counterterrorism authorities to authorities are open to broad interpretation, if the detriment of individual rights and liberties.14 not subject to outright abuse. A DOJ Inspector In the aftermath of the attacks, Congress passed General report published in 2010 criticized the the USA Patriot Act, which among other things FBI for opening domestic terrorism enacted several terrorism-related criminal investigations into political advocacy statutes, amended existing criminal statutes, organizations based on the constitutionally and considerably augmented the federal protected activities of their members.22 The list government’s surveillance authorities.15 of targeted organizations included anti-war activists, environmentalists, and nonviolent The USA Patriot Act also codified a federal animal rights protestors.23 definition of “domestic terrorism,” which is defined as activities that involve acts that are In 2017, the FBI again attracted criticism dangerous to human life, violate criminal laws, following revelations that federal investigators and “appear to be intended (1) to intimidate or were treating the nonexistent phenomenon of coerce a civilian population; (2) to influence the “Black Identity Extremism” as a domestic terror policy of a government by intimidation or threat.24 Critics viewed the new classification as coercion; or (3) to affect the conduct of a a false predicate for targeting Black racial justice government by mass destruction, assassination, activists, and the FBI reportedly abandoned the or kidnapping.”16 term “Black Identity Extremism” in favor of a classification that comprised various forms of Federal law enforcement agencies have “Racially Motivated Violent Extremism.”25 This asserted expansive authorities under this development only led to further consternation definition without commensurate oversight or because, according to critics, aggregating cases transparency.17 On the investigative end, the into a broader classification has the effect of FBI has not published a report on federal “obfuscat[ing] the white supremacist threat.”26 domestic terrorism cases since 2005.18 And when it comes to domestic terrorism Complicating matters further, leaked prosecutions, the National Security Division of documents revealed that, despite the new the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has never classification of “racially
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Totalitarian Dynamics, Colonial History, and Modernity: the US South After the Civil War
    ADVERTIMENT. Lʼaccés als continguts dʼaquesta tesi doctoral i la seva utilització ha de respectar els drets de la persona autora. Pot ser utilitzada per a consulta o estudi personal, així com en activitats o materials dʼinvestigació i docència en els termes establerts a lʼart. 32 del Text Refós de la Llei de Propietat Intel·lectual (RDL 1/1996). Per altres utilitzacions es requereix lʼautorització prèvia i expressa de la persona autora. En qualsevol cas, en la utilització dels seus continguts caldrà indicar de forma clara el nom i cognoms de la persona autora i el títol de la tesi doctoral. No sʼautoritza la seva reproducció o altres formes dʼexplotació efectuades amb finalitats de lucre ni la seva comunicació pública des dʼun lloc aliè al servei TDX. Tampoc sʼautoritza la presentació del seu contingut en una finestra o marc aliè a TDX (framing). Aquesta reserva de drets afecta tant als continguts de la tesi com als seus resums i índexs. ADVERTENCIA. El acceso a los contenidos de esta tesis doctoral y su utilización debe respetar los derechos de la persona autora. Puede ser utilizada para consulta o estudio personal, así como en actividades o materiales de investigación y docencia en los términos establecidos en el art. 32 del Texto Refundido de la Ley de Propiedad Intelectual (RDL 1/1996). Para otros usos se requiere la autorización previa y expresa de la persona autora. En cualquier caso, en la utilización de sus contenidos se deberá indicar de forma clara el nombre y apellidos de la persona autora y el título de la tesis doctoral.
    [Show full text]
  • Race and Sex Discrimination in Jury Service, 1868-1979 Dissertation
    Revising Constitutions: Race and Sex Discrimination in Jury Service, 1868-1979 Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Meredith Clark-Wiltz Graduate Program in History The Ohio State University 2011 Dissertation Committee: Paula Baker, Advisor Susan M. Hartmann David Stebenne Copyright By Meredith Clark-Wiltz 2011 Abstract This dissertation examines the relationship between the Reconstruction-era civil rights revolution and the rights revolution of the 1960s and 1970s by tracing the history of sex and race discrimination in jury service policy and the social activism it prompted. It argues that the federal government created a bifurcated policy that simultaneously condemned race discrimination and condoned sex discrimination during Reconstruction, and that initial policy had a controlling effect on the development of twentieth-century jury service campaigns. While dividing civil rights activists‘ campaigns for defendants‘ and jury rights from white feminists‘ struggle for equal civic obligations, the policy also removed black women from the forefront of either campaign. Not until the 1960s did women of color emerge as central to both of these campaigns, focusing on equal civic membership and the achievement of equitable justice. Relying on activists‘ papers, organizational records, and court cases, this project merges the legal and political narrative with a history of social to reveal the complex and mutually shaping relationship between policy and social activism. This dissertation reveals the distinctive, yet interwoven paths of white women, black women, and black men toward a more complete attainment of citizenship rights and more equitable access to justice.
    [Show full text]
  • Lynched for Drinking from a White Man's Well
    This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.× (More Information) Back to article page Back to article page Lynched for Drinking from a White Man’s Well Thomas Laqueur This April, the Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit law firm in Montgomery, Alabama, opened a new museum and a memorial in the city, with the intention, as the Montgomery Advertiser put it, of encouraging people to remember ‘the sordid history of slavery and lynching and try to reconcile the horrors of our past’. The Legacy Museum documents the history of slavery, while the National Memorial for Peace and Justice commemorates the black victims of lynching in the American South between 1877 and 1950. For almost two decades the EJI and its executive director, Bryan Stevenson, have been fighting against the racial inequities of the American criminal justice system, and their legal trench warfare has met with considerable success in the Supreme Court. This legal work continues. But in 2012 the organisation decided to devote resources to a new strategy, hoping to change the cultural narratives that sustain the injustices it had been fighting. In 2013 it published a report called Slavery in America: The Montgomery Slave Trade, followed two years later by the first of three reports under the title Lynching in America, which between them detailed eight hundred cases that had never been documented before. The United States sometimes seems to be committed to amnesia, to forgetting its great national sin of chattel slavery and the violence, repression, endless injustices and humiliations that have sustained racial hierarchies since emancipation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Elaine Riot of 1919: Race, Class, and Labor in the Arkansas Delta" (2019)
    University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations May 2019 The lE aine Riot of 1919: Race, Class, and Labor in the Arkansas Delta Steven Anthony University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Anthony, Steven, "The Elaine Riot of 1919: Race, Class, and Labor in the Arkansas Delta" (2019). Theses and Dissertations. 2040. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/2040 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE ELAINE RIOT OF 1919: RACE, CLASS, AND LABOR IN THE ARKANSAS DELTA by Steven Anthony A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee May 2019 ABSTRACT THE ELAINE RIOT OF 1919: RACE, CLASS, AND LABOR IN THE ARKANSAS DELTA by Steven Anthony The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2019 Under the Supervision of Professor Gregory Carter This dissertation examines the racially motivated mob dominated violence that took place during the autumn of 1919 in rural Phillips County, Arkansas nearby Elaine. The efforts of white planters to supplant the loss of enslaved labor due to the abolition of American slavery played a crucial role in re-making the southern agrarian economy in the early twentieth century. My research explores how the conspicuous features of sharecropping, tenant farming, peonage, or other variations of debt servitude became a means for the re-enslavement of African Americans in the Arkansas Delta.
    [Show full text]
  • 2017 Molina Michael.Pdf (2.335Mb)
    UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE RADICAL REACTIONS: THE FIRST RED SCARE IN THE GREAT PLAINS AND THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDERLANDS, 1918-1920 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By MICHAEL MOLINA Norman, Oklahoma 2017 © Copyright by MICHAEL MOLINA 2017 All Rights Reserved. Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge my committee, namely, chair Dr. Sterling Evans, Dr. Elyssa Faison, Dr. Ben Keppel, and Dr. David Wrobel for providing support and guidance through this long process. I would also like to thank my loving and amazingly supportive wife, Kayla Griffis Molina, whose faith and encouragement made everything infinitely more doable. Without her steadfast support, and grueling enforcement of studying, I would have never passed comps and gotten this far. I love you sweety! Similarly, I wish to thank my faithful research buddy and seminar comrade, Matt Corpolongo. His keen insight and political commentaries helped shape my perceptions and gave me a unique perspective. Lastly, I would like to thank my family. To my dad, Arnie Molina, who provided invaluable assistance in Austin and made a great research partner. To my mom, Cherye Molina, whose constant love and prayers made all the difference. To my brother, Matthew Molina, whose encouragement and dry humor made thing bearable. And finally, to my grandma, Georgia Maria Hale, whose unwavering faith and daily prayer helped more than she will ever know. I stand on the shoulders of giants, and without the love, faith, and support from my advisors, friends, and family, none of this would have been possible.
    [Show full text]
  • Ualr-History-Newsletter-Fall-2019
    UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK HISTORY DEPARTMENT NEWSLETTER November 21, 2019—Editor-in-Chief, Edward M. Anson; Executive Editor, Jess Porter Features pp. 1-8; History Graduates pp. 8; Alumni News p. 8; Social Media, p. 9; Faculty News pp. 10-15 Teaching à la History The History Department’s faculty uses a variety of techniques in their classes to accomplish what in essence is the same goal, the enhancement of student learning. Dr. Katrina Yeaw uses social media in her civilization class and focuses it around the Silk Road; Dr. Charles Romney has traditionally gone "old school" without technology but utilized primary source excerpts and questioning techniques. This semester, however, he is incorporating eight-minute video lectures into his suite of online offerings. Dr. Brian Mitchell uses innovative class projects, including the research on each of the defendants associated with the Elaine Massacre, which has resulted in markers being placed and their gravesites. Drs. Barclay Key and Brian Mitchell have both used census records as part of student research projects connecting local and national Students in Dr. Key’s class on history. US history since 1877 read letters written between a Dr. Nate Marvin attended the Active Teaching married couple during World Institute held by Mark Bailie in the STEM Center War 2, when the husband was stationed in the over the summer. In her current US History to 1877 Philippines. course, Dr. Marta Cieslak helps students understand the importance of perspective in history. Every week, she focuses on one theme that students discuss from a variety of perspectives.
    [Show full text]
  • “Riot” Heritage of the Civil Rights Era
    “Riot” Heritage of the Civil Rights Era Janine Lang Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science in Historic Preservation Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Columbia University May 2019 Dedication For the extra-strength, stainless steel, heavy duty support system that is my friends. For Ciara, thank you for always asking how I am and actually wanting to know the answer. For Kelly, thank you for the laughs and the silence, and for knowing when each is necessary. For Maddy, thank you for taking me outside when I’m stuck inside my head. For Shreya, thank you for loud laughs over tea, and beer, and cheese curds. For Rachel, thank you for answering the phone for twelve years–through the braces and the bows, no matter the miles. All of this–this cross-country move, this thesis, this journey– would not have happened without you. From the bottom of this only child’s heart, thank you for being my sisters. Table of Contents Introduction 1 Object of Study 4 Period of study 6 Location of study 7 Research Goals 7 Methodology 8 Organization of Study 10 “Riots” in Context: Slave Revolts to Black Lives Matter 11 Early Rebellions 12 Reconstruction 13 Jim Crow and First Great Migration 14 Second Great Migration 17 Civil Rights Era 18 Post-Civil Rights Era 21 Riot vs. “Riot” 23 Established Quantitative Metrics 25 Government Rhetoric 25 Scholarly Work 27 Associated Terms and Alternates 30 Conclusion 32 Geospatial Patterns 34 Sources and Methodology 35 Geospatial Analysis 38 Conclusion 44 Case Studies 45 Early Events 47 Transition Events 53 Core Events 57 Conclusion 71 Conclusions and Next Steps 72 Summary of Findings 73 Next Steps 75 Bibliography 79 Appendix 88 Acknowledgments I would like to thank my academic thesis team for their support in this process.
    [Show full text]
  • What's Left of Solidarity? Reflections on Law, Race, and Labor History, 57 Buff
    University of Miami Law School University of Miami School of Law Institutional Repository Articles Faculty and Deans 2009 What's Left of olidS arity? Reflections on Law, Race, and Labor History Martha R. Mahoney University of Miami School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.miami.edu/fac_articles Part of the Judges Commons, Law and Race Commons, Law and Society Commons, and the Legal History Commons Recommended Citation Martha R. Mahoney, What's Left of Solidarity? Reflections on Law, Race, and Labor History, 57 Buff. L. Rev. 1515 (2009). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty and Deans at University of Miami School of Law Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Articles by an authorized administrator of University of Miami School of Law Institutional Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. What's Left of Solidarity? Reflections on Law, Race, and Labor History MARTHA R. MAHONEYt Institutions and institutional rules-not customs, ideas, attitudes, culture, or private behavior-have primarily shaped race relations in America. I Until recent decades at least, the history of the white working class, in its majority, was one of self-definition in opposition to an often-demonized racial Other and intense resistance to the request of African Americans for full citizenship. In this sense white workers hardly constituted a class apart. Rather, many of them shared in the white supremacist cultural reflexes of the larger society and eagerly laid claim to the "public and psychological wage" that they hoped membership in the "ruling nation" would afford.2 INTRODUCTION Law hides the prescriptive power of the state so well that sometimes even lawyers and historians fail to see it.
    [Show full text]
  • The Racial Riots of the Red Summer of 1919
    MASARYK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English language and literature The Racial Riots of the Red Summer of 1919 Bachelor thesis Brno 2017 Supervisor: Author: Michael George, M.A. Michaela Klosová Prohlášení „Prohlašuji, že jsem bakalářskou práci vypracovala samostatně, pouze za použití citovaných zdrojů.“ Declaration “I proclaim that I have assembled this bachelor thesis by myself and that I used only sources cited in the bibliography.” …………………………….. Acknowledgement I would like to thank to my supervisor Michael George, M. A. for his kind guidance, encouragement, valuable advice, time and helpful remarks. Annotation The aim of this bachelor thesis is to present and examine the period of the racial riots of the Red Summer of 1919 to the reader and provide him/her with the deeper insight of selected racial riots, as well as the resistance of Afro-Americans against the white rioters. The first chapter provides the historical background that led to the rioting. The second chapter deals with five selected riots of Jenkins County, Longview, Washington, Chicago and the town of Elaine. The third chapter describes the three front of resistance to the white mobs. Key Words: Red Summer, Riot, Lynching, Mob violence, Afro-American, Negro, Resistance, Rumors. Anotace Cílem této bakalářské práce je představit čtenáři období rasových nepokojů tzv. Red Summer, které se událo v roce 1919 ve Spojených Státech Amerických a poskytnout relevantní informace k vybraným veřejným nepokojům. Dalším cílem je představit čtenáři vzdor Afro-Američanů proti davovému násilí. První kapitola se zabývá historickými souvislostmi, které vedly k rasovým nepokojům. Druhá kapitola se soustředí na představení a popis pěti vybraných rasových nepokojů, a to ve městech, Longview, Washington, Chicago, Elaine a Jenkins County.
    [Show full text]
  • Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project Northeastern University School of Law
    CIVIL RIGHTS AND RESTORATIVE JUSTICE PROJECT NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW YEAR END REPORT 2019 he Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Proj- cases in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Tect (CRRJ) was founded in 2007. Through Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, clinical courses, research, civil rights advocacy, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. legal services, and community engagement, CRRJ pursued reparative programs related to affiliated scholars and students examine the several cases on its docket, assisting families relationship between race-based miscarriag- and communities in their efforts to generate es of justice in US history and current press- civic dialogue by placing markers at signifi- ing racial and criminal justice issues. CRRJ in- cant sites, hosting commemorative events, vestigates cold cases of racial homicide and and engaging with filmmakers. supports communities seeking to unearth information about past racial violence and to CRRJ sponsored several events in 2019 to ad- engage in dialogue aimed at reconciliation. vance collaboration and connection among CRRJ resurrects these cases to construct researchers and advocates. CRRJ’s work- an historicized understanding of obsta- shop series featured five talks that brought cles to equal justice today. together researchers, students, and invited guests in the fields of civil rights and historical In 2019, CRRJ continued to develop the Burn- injustices to discuss new research projects in ham-Nobles archive by researching scores of an informal setting. Above: The family of Royal Cyril Brooks at the unveiling of a historical marker in Gretna, Louisiana. Cover: Sam Terry and his wife Minnie Kate Terry (left); Quick-Trigger Cops Kill Pair in Last Week in Dec., Pittsburgh Courier, Jan.
    [Show full text]
  • Springfield Race Riot Reconnaissance Survey Springfield
    National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Reconnaissance Survey of Selected Civil Rights Sites in Phillips County, Arkansas December 2019 This study has been prepared to explore specific resources and advise on whether these resources merit further consideration as a potential addition to the national park system. Publication or transmittal of this report should not be considered an endorsement or a commitment by the National Park Service to seek or support specific legislative authorization for the project or its implementation. This report was prepared by the United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service. For more information contact: Natalie Franz Planner National Park Service Interior Regions 3, 4, and 5 303.969.2949 [email protected] EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This reconnaissance survey is a preliminary resource assessment of Centennial Baptist Church and Phillips County Courthouse near Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, and the site of the Hoop Spur Church in Elaine, Arkansas. The assessment is based on congressionally established criteria for inclusion in the national park system. This survey was requested in a July 23, 2018, letter to National Park Service Acting Director P. Daniel Smith from Arkansas’s 1st District Representative Rick Crawford (see appendix A for letter and response). This survey provides a cursory review and analysis of available information to determine whether a special resource study is warranted. Representative Crawford’s letter named the Centennial Baptist Church and Hoop Spur Church, and asked that a reconnaissance survey include “other sites pertaining to the Civil Rights Movement in the Arkansas Delta.” Due to constraints on reconnaissance surveys, this report includes the Phillips County Courthouse in analysis, but includes other sites in Phillips County only as suggestions for further research.
    [Show full text]
  • The Elaine Massacre, 1919 - Grif Stockley
    The Elaine massacre, 1919 - Grif Stockley A short history of one of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history when hundreds of African-Americans were murdered and tortured by white racists and security forces after black farm workers tried to organise for better pay. The Elaine Massacre was by far the deadliest racial confrontation in Arkansas history and possibly the bloodiest racial conflict in the history of the United States. While its deepest roots lay in the state’s commitment to white supremacy, the events in Elaine (Phillips County) stemmed from tense race relations and growing concerns about labor unions. A shooting incident that occurred at a meeting of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union escalated into mob violence on the part of the white people in Elaine and surrounding areas. Although the exact number is unknown, estimates of the number of African Americans killed by whites range into the hundreds; five white people lost their lives. 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 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. Black sharecroppers were often exploited in their efforts to collect payment for their cotton crops.
    [Show full text]