The Arkansas Race Riot by Ida B. Wells-Barnett
The Arkansas Race Riot by Ida B. Wells-Barnett
“The press dispatches of October 1, 1919, heralded the news that another race riot had taken place the night before in Elaine, Ark., and that it was started by Negroes who had killed some white officers in an altercation.
Later on the country was told that the white people of Phillips County had risen against the Negroes who started this riot and had killed many of them, and that this orgy of bloodshed was not stopped until United States soldiers from Camp Pike had been sent to the scene of the trouble.
Columns were printed telling of an organization among Negro farmers in this little burg who were banded together for the purpose of killing all the white people, the organization being known as the Farmers' Household Union. As a result of these charges over one hundred Negro farmers and laborers, men and women, were arrested and jailed in Helena, Ark.,…”
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I believe this is her greatest work, as it connects the economic impact (and aftermath) behind this tragedy. Read this book, and the additional chapter I have added (Ch. 12: What Happened Next?), in this easy-to-access book.