Union troops captured the city in July 1862, and had been using it as a base of operations. Although the posse encountered minimal resistance from the black residents of the area around Elaine, the fear of African Americans, who outnumbered whites in this area of Phillips County by a ratio of ten to one, led an estimated 500 to 1,000 armed white peoplemostly from the surrounding Arkansas counties but also from across the river in Mississippito travel to Elaine to put down what was characterized by them as an insurrection. On October 1, Phillips County authorities sent three telegrams to Gov. https://www.britannica.com/place/Helena-Arkansas, The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture - Helena-West Helena. If we dont teach ALL AMERICAN HISTORY we miss a opportunity to learn about our part, examine our present, and plan and prepare for our future as, ONE NATION, UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. When I was a little girl, I remember my father, Willie Hall, receiving a letter from his uncle, Richard Hall, who was his fathers brother. The research below is a comprehensive historical analysis of every major league baseball player born in Arkansas. America cannot address the inequality, poverty, inadequate education, the racially biased criminal justice system, and the limited life chances of black people that define contemporary society until the nation confronts and acknowledges this history. He was elderly and handicapped, and ran too slowly. Telephone lines to Elaine were cut. 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.. Facebook/Historic Arkansas Facts and Photos. Union media later greatly embellished the role played by the regiment in the fighting. Sandy Diggs or Toby Diggs was the name father and son, Im trying to find what happened to them. The heroism of black soldiers in the war enhanced the struggle for black freedom, causing industrialists and plantation owners to brace themselves for the return of black veterans. 14 Best Things to Do in Helena-West Helena (Arkansas): Arkansas Welcome Center Phillips County Museum Fort Curtis Delta Cultural Center Robert Nighthawk Gravesite Quapaw Canoe Company King Biscuit Time Marker Sonny Boy Williamson's Boarding House Helena Confederate Cemetery Pillow Thompson House Freedom Park Frank Frost Gravesite Elaine Race Massacre: Red Summer in Arkansas. All Rights Reserved. Livingston, Kelly, and Madison Peek. They secured new trials for six of the men, known as the Ware defendants, based on the fact that the trial judge had not required jurors to indicate the degree of murder on their ballot forms.The convictions of the other six men, known as the Moore defendants, were affirmed. Little Rock: Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, 2002. The first time you log in to our catalog you will need to create an account. They aimed to hire a lawyer to represent them with the landlords. [18][19], Helena previously had a Catholic grade school for black children, St. Cyprian School; it closed in 1963. Brough, who had ridden on the train with the troops and accompanied them on a march to the Hoop Spur area. Magnolia Inn LR. This was a . 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. 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. They came to discuss membership in an organization called the Progressive Farmers and Household Union, which would help them secure a fair price for the cotton they picked and to buy land. This project is funded in part by a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant award. While its deepest roots lay in the states commitment to white supremacy, the events in and around Elaine (Phillips County)stemmed from tense race relations and growing concerns about labor unions. [73] Holmes ordered the 8th Missouri Infantry Regiment (Burns') to attack Fort Curtis,[66] but upon seeing the regiment charge, the rest of Parsons' men joined in, believing a general attack was beginning. Military reports were intentionally vague. As you know, our black history is very limited in some areas. If you can, provide 1-2 sources of information backing up this correction. At 11 p.m., a band of white men shot into the church. A willow tree memorializing the African American lives lost in a 1919 massacre in Elaine, Arkansas, in one of the deadliest racial conflicts in U.S. history, was chopped down this week . The official narrative presented a picture at odds with reality. Instead, the troops either shot or arrested them. The trial had occurred in a setting dominated by a mob spirit, violating the prisoners right to due process. [4] Read our Privacy Policy. Calls went out to the governor for federal troops. News of the shooting quickly reached the county seat of Helena. When a tribute gift is given the honoree will receive a letter acknowledging your generosity and a bookplate will be placed in a book. Details remain difficult to verify. Give a donation in someones name to mark a special occasion, honor a friend or colleague or remember a beloved family member. The Malco theater in Helena has served as both a place to see a movie and as a movie location in Arkansas. The convictions were again affirmed. UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture. Helena is the seat of Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas (1965). News also reached the Union forces at Helena of a major Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. [31], On July 3, Holmes, Price, Walker, Fagan, and Marmaduke gathered to formulate the plan of assault. Union troops captured the city in July 1862, and had been using it as a base of operations. Ms. Wells Barnett provided hard evidence of the massacre, but it took the Supreme Court to expose the truth to national attention. 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 Delta city has been awarded a $1 million grant speci The main attack broke through Battery C, but Union troops fended off the attackers and sealed the breach. The Confederates charged Fort Curtis in their last attack, but the heavy artillery inside kept the attack from reaching the fort. Colonel Jenckss report of his mission supported this view, claiming only two black people and one of his corporals had died. Stopford, Annie. The troops were aided by seven machine guns. ed. Jackson: University and College Press of Mississippi, 1972. [13], Helena, Arkansas is home to historic buildings such as the Sidney H. Horner House and the Centennial Baptist Church. The Arkansas Gazette reported at least fifteen black bodies in Helena's streets and it's outskirts. Jones began to raise money in the black community in Little Rock for the defense of the Elaine Twelve, as the convicted men came to be known. [32] Walker's specific orders were to "act against the enemy as circumstances may justify", a vague order that left him under his own initiative and resulted in him accomplishing little in the coming battle. 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. [20] Overall, the Confederates had 7,646 men. The Arkansas Democrat sent . The white leaders put forward their view that black residents had been about to revolt. Courageously, she dressed up as a sharecropper and went to Arkansas. Further Deep South states seceded early in the next year, forming the Confederate States of America. Ellis, Mark. I have been trying to close a chapter in my family history. Many denied the massacre had occurred, leaving accounts of the slaughter to witnesses, reports from Wells Barnett, and stories passed down through families of the victims. The town was at the center of a rapidly changing lumber and plantation economy known for harsh working conditions. Ferguson, Bessie. Historical Events. Taylor, Kieran. [99], Helena was reinforced and in mid-August, Union forces began a campaign against Little Rock, with Helena as the staging ground. For every 100 females, there were 83.3 males. It was a system intended to keep black people in debt and dependent upon planters. Honor or memorial gifts are an everlasting way to pay tribute to someone who has touched your life. Two white members of the Phillips County posse, T. K. Jones and H. F. Smiddy, stated in sworn affidavits in 1921 that they committed acts of torture at the Phillips County jail and named others who had also participated in the torture. There she interviewed the 12 prisoners accused of murder, their wives, and many others, publishing her findings in a 1920 pamphlet. The Forgotten History of Americas Worst Racial Massacre, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/opinion/elaine-massacre-1919-arkansas.html. Online at https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/2019/08/02/to-those-known-and-unknown (accessed August 16, 2022). [60] The failure of the attacks on Batteries A and D allowed those positions to fire on Price's men, and Tyler and Fort Curtis added artillery fire as well;[61] Tyler had moved to a different location that allowed for better fire on Graveyard Hill after suppressing Brooks' men. Once there, Holmes provided further orders for the advance: Walker was to screen Fagan's movement to Helena with part of his command, while Price continued on to Helena from Switzer's. St. Francis National Forest is immediately to the north. It is a deliberately planned insurrection of the Negroes against the whites directed by an organization known as the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America, established for the purpose of banding Negroes together for the killing of white people.. Advancing his men through ravines and over hills, Price decided that his artillery would have to be left behind, although picked men from his batteries were to accompany the infantry to man the Union pieces that the attack expected to capture. This article is about the U.S. city. Rev. Low Villains and Wickedness in High Places: Race and Class in the Elaine Riots. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 58 (Autumn 1999): 285313. In their view a deliberately planned insurrection had occurred, where black sharecroppers had intended to murder the plantation owners to seize the land. Rogers, O. Black sharecroppers were often exploited in their efforts to collect payment for their cotton crops. Grif Stockley Both Holmes and Marmaduke accused Walker of dereliction of duty. 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. Emboldened by their war experience, African-American veterans returned to the Delta to demand the full rights of citizenship and justice, not only before the law but also in their labors. Brough issued a stay of the executions to permit an appeal to the Arkansas Supreme Court after the motions were denied. The City of Helena is located in Phillips County in the State of Arkansas. The descendants of the wealthier white perpetrators, they insist, have profited, and continue to do so, from the suffering and loss that their families endured in 1919. ArkansasReview: A Journal of Delta Studies32 (August 2001). McRae sent about 200 men to attack the battery, but they were unsuccessful. The Arkansas Race Riot. N.p. Paul Hall was one of the twelve men who were slated to be electrocuted, and I believe he was my relative. 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. Helena was defended by about 4,100 Union troops led by Major General Benjamin Prentiss, manning one fort and four batteries. Though accounts of who fired the first shots are in sharp conflict, a shootout in front of the church on the night of September 30, 1919, between the armed black guards around the church and three individuals whose vehicle was parked in front of the church resulted in the death of W. A. Adkins, a white security officer for the Missouri-Pacific Railroad, and the wounding of Charles Pratt, Phillips Countys white deputy sheriff. According to police, deputies were dispatched to the 1000 block of Cherry Street in regard to a shots fired complaint when they discovered 50-year-old Cornelius Borum on the front porch. 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. 2431. Anatomy of Four Race Riots: Racial Conflict in Knoxville, Elaine (Arkansas), Tulsa and Chicago, 19191921. Rate and review titles you borrow and share your opinions on them. Encyclopedia of Arkansas The Elaine, Arkansas, Race Riots, 1919. Special Issue. Elaine sits in Phillips County, on one of the many bends in the Mississippi, roughly 95 miles southwest of Memphis. Helena, city, seat (1830) of Phillips county, eastern Arkansas, U.S., port of the Mississippi River, about 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Memphis, Tennessee, and adjacent to the city of West Helena. [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. 0:00. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2020. At the same time, the New York offices of the NAACP, upon the advice of Arkansas attorney Ulysses S. Bratton, hired the Little Rock law firm of George Murphy, a former attorney general and candidate for governor, as counsel for the twelve men. Sharecroppers worked the land for a small share of the crop and were forced to sell their cotton to the landowners, who paid less than market prices. Barry, John M. Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America. Fort Curtis was built in August 1862 by Union soldiers and freed slaves in Helena. Edgar Hoover and the Red Summer of 1919. Journal of American Studies 28 (April 1994): 3959. The 1920 census lists my great-great-great-grandmother as a widow. [21], The Union troops in Helena were commanded by Major General Benjamin Prentiss and consisted of the Thirteenth Division of the XIII Corps. He made no motion for a change of venue, nor did he challenge a single prospective juror, taking the first twelve called. Although the exact number is unknown, estimates of the number of African Americans killed by whites have ranged into the hundreds; five white people lost their lives. According to Christ, Prentiss lost 220 of the 4,129 men he took into battle: 57 killed, 127 wounded, and 36 missing. New York: St. Martins, 2011. [25] Prentiss' men had advantages over the Confederates through their defenses, batteries, and naval support. The Elaine Riot: Tragedy & Triumph. The economy, traditionally based on cotton and lumber, became increasingly industrialized after World War II, especially at West Helena (founded 1909, incorporated 1917). [23] Prentiss originally dismissed rumors of a Confederate attack, but by late June gave more credence to the reports. Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. The information you have provided is great for families that lost people and is greatly needed. To the north, Confederate cavalry commanded by Brigadier Generals John S. Marmaduke and Lucius M. Walker failed to act in concert and accomplished little. 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). The perpetrators suppressed coverage of the events, and the victims, terrified black families, had no one to turn for help. http://visualizingtheredsummer.com/ (accessed August 16, 2022). Through a partnership with local government and the federal government more than 20 crimes committed in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas have landed federal charges over the last two years. On Oct. 7, Colonel Jencks declared the insurrection over and withdrew his troops. [87] Almost all of the Confederate losses were from the brigades of Fagan, Parsons, and McRae, who took 32 percent of their attacking forces as casualties. [58] Each wasted time waiting for the other to advance. Additional support provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council. The Nevada County Depot in Prescott was photographed circa 1960 with the Reader Railroad engine in the foreground. [57] Confusion was initially caused by the two brigades being separated by a ridge and unable to see each other. #7 of 8 things to do in Helena Historic Sites Write a review About Suggested duration 2-3 hours Suggest edits to improve what we show. One of the convicted 12 wrote to her from prison, requesting help. Smith, a 1980 graduate of Helena-West Helena Central High School, graduated from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., in 1984. Helena has been called the cradle of the Delta Blues, and each October the citys King Biscuit Blues Festival draws fans from around the world. During the trials, Murphy became ill, and Jones became the principal counsel. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997. . This article is about the Civil War battle. With the success of the Russian Revolution, stopping the spread of international communism was seen as the duty of all loyal Americans. The committees narrative appeared in newspapers all over the country. Still others described the barbarism of cutting off the ears or toes of dead negroes for souvenirs and the dragging of their bodies through the streets of Elaine. Gerald B. Lambert, the founder of Listerine, who owned 21,000 acres near Elaine, saw white men spread throughout the woods, firing at any suspicious person. 1808-11-10 Osage Treaty / Treaty of Fort Clark, Osage Nation cedes territory in Missouri and Arkansas to the US. 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. Hostility toward him was so great from local white residents that, out of fear for his life, he was said to sleep at a different black familys house every night during the trials. Update (July 30): HELENA-WEST HELENA, AR - A man found shot to death on a city street earlier this week has now been identified. [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. It was effectively an invasion. [18] The Confederate columns finally united on July 3,[19] and that day began the final movement towards Helena. [5], By early 1863, holding Helena provided the Union with significant advantages, such as serving as a supply depot for the ongoing Vicksburg campaign, providing a marshalling point for a future advance against Little Rock, and securing northeastern Arkansas. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2020. Joseph Bledsoe's Missouri Battery was brought up to provide artillery support, and two of its guns opened on the Union positions. The Helena-West Helena Police Department says the body of Fredrick Willis, 23, of Helena-West Helena, was found late Tuesday evening. [44] Brooks' men became disorganized and did not reform until 8:00 am. 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.
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