In 1811 the steamboat New Orleans called there, opening a prosperous era of river traffic. Livingston, Kelly, and Madison Peek. Further Deep South states seceded early in the next year, forming the Confederate States of America. Holmes noted that the defenses of Helena were stronger than he expected, but carried on with the attack anyway. Courageously, she dressed up as a sharecropper and went to Arkansas. Mitchell, Brian K. Soldiers and Veterans at the Elaine Massacre. In The War at Home: Perspectives on the Arkansas Experience during World War I, edited by Mark K. Christ. On the Laps of Gods: The Red Summer of 1919 and the Struggle for Justice that Remade a Nation. The Elaine Lynchings: A Visit to Elaine, Arkansas, 100 Years After Red Summer 1919: Tree honoring black victims cut down in alleged crime Inc. town, 1833; city, 1856. Phillips County Arrest, Court, and Public Records | StateRecords.org Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America. The Elaine massacre occurred on September 30-October 2, 1919 at Hoop Spur in the vicinity of Elaine in rural Phillips County, Arkansas. This picture of the Magnolia Inn on Roosevelt Road in Little Rock was taken in 1969. Arkansas State Police investigating Helena-West Helena homicide - KAIT The per capita income for Helena is $13,028. Gov. Ferguson, Bessie. 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. Details remain difficult to verify. Volunteers rush to aid animals at closed Ark. shelter - WREG.com A Union counterattack retook the hill and captured many prisoners,[79] with over 350 prisoners taken on Graveyard Hill alone. 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. Among the musicians who regularly visited and performed in the area at that time were Robert Johnson, Johnny Shines, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Robert Nighthawk, Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Memphis Slim and Roosevelt Sykes. 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. It was founded in 1833 by Nicholas Rightor and is named after the daughter of Sylvanus Phillips, an early settler of Phillips County and the namesake of Phillips County. Online at https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/2019/08/02/to-those-known-and-unknown (accessed August 16, 2022). Fort Curtis 12 Points of Interest & Landmarks By Altekameraden 10. Grif Stockley Price's men fell back and abandoned Graveyard Hill. [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. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com. 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. News also reached the Union forces at Helena of a major Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. 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. Instead, the troops either shot or arrested them. Neuman, Scott. Magnolia Inn LR. The official narrative presented a picture at odds with reality. 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 Underlying Causes of the Elaine Riot of 1919. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 20 (Spring 1961): 95104. [8], Helena is located at 343134N 90365W / 34.52611N 90.60139W / 34.52611; -90.60139 (34.526223, 90.601377).[9]. On Oct. 7, Colonel Jencks declared the insurrection over and withdrew his troops. For additional information: There is no danger of any lynching. According to the United States Census Bureau, Helena had a total area of 8.9 square miles (23km2), all land. Creating an account gives you access to all these features. During the 1910 census, my great-great-great-grandfather was listed. The Elaine Legacy Center, in conjunction with the Dewitt Proctor Conference, held a Truth Hearing in February where 12 commissioners heard several descendants convey powerful stories of the massacre handed down through their families. Helena was the county seat of Phillips County[3] until January 1, 2006, when it merged its government and city limits with neighboring West Helena. We Have Just Begun: Black Organizing and White Response in the Arkansas Delta, 1919. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 58 (Autumn 1999): 265284. [50] Price's command consisted of the brigades of Brigadier Generals Dandridge McRae and Mosby Monroe Parsons, and was led by the 9th Missouri Sharpshooter Battalion and a company of Arkansans local to the Helena area. Price commanded the Confederate forces during the campaign, as Holmes had fallen ill.[100] Events during this campaign worsened the split between Marmaduke and Walker, and the former killed the latter in a duel on September 6. If Elaine residents need something, they must drive to Helena, 30 minutes away - past silver metal silos with angled tops, modest one-story houses, John Deere tractors and the Lake View community, where a number of trailers and motor homes are parked along Old . ; and in the plantation region of the Arkansas Delta. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). [70] Fagan's lines had been badly thinned by not only Union fire but also heat and exhaustion. Some of the refugees were killed, some were taken prisoner, and the camp was burned by the Confederates at some point during the battle. Delta Cultural Center, Helena-West Helena, Arkansas. [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. [25] Prentiss' men had advantages over the Confederates through their defenses, batteries, and naval support. - Police in Helena-West Helena are investigating a deadly shooting that happened on Friday night. 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. Colonel Jenckss report of his mission supported this view, claiming only two black people and one of his corporals had died. Major League Baseball Players Born in Arkansas Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1988. 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. Consequently, plantation owners and lumber mills had to pay higher wages to have the cotton picked or timber milled. [20] Overall, the Confederates had 7,646 men. New York: Anchor Books, 1967. This was a . Sandy Diggs or Toby Diggs was the name father and son, Im trying to find what happened to them. Helena | Arkansas, United States | Britannica 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. In contrast, the correspondent for the Memphis Press on October 2, 1919, wrote, Many Negroes are reported killed by the soldiers. Other anecdotal information suggests that U.S. troops also engaged in torture of African Americans to make them confess and give information. [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. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The Arkansas Gazette reported at least fifteen black bodies in Helena's streets and it's outskirts. 2431. The fire from the artillery battery did little damage, but the gunboat's shots were more effective. The Helena time zone is Central Daylight Time which is 6 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). [65] Carried by momentum, some of Price's infantry charged down the hill towards Helena itself, but were driven off. The Massacre of Black Sharecroppers That Led the Supreme Court to Curb He began moving towards Jacksonport and met Major General Sterling Price and Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke on June 18. All Rights Reserved. The town was at the center of a rapidly changing lumber and plantation economy known for harsh working conditions. 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. 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. One of the convicted 12 wrote to her from prison, requesting help. St. Francis National Forest is immediately to the north. [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.
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