Conference quick welcome to new perspectives and sources, this is a panel to devoted to understanding a horrific series events that started just over id years ago where African Americans were hunted down by an raged crowd of whites in arkansas, i want to recognize the work lancaster did in helping to organize this panel, in unfortunately he had to change his plans to join us, and participate all three of our scholars, here on this panel are contributors to a book edited, we are shamelessly plugging that right here, the elaine mascara in arkansas, a century of atrocity and resistance, 1819 to 1919, full disclosure i read it to, this is not about me, i want to introduced all three of our panelists first, though each present for about 20 to 25 minutes, and after that i will spend just a few minutes offering some thoughts, designed to generate discussion and then we will enjoy a question, answer i will get out of the, way we will go in the order of the Program First matthew hills who, is a lecturer of history, in the school of history and sociology at the Georgia Institute of technology and instructor in the department of history at the university of west georgia hes the author of a lot of things a arkansas gilded age the rise and legacy of populism and workingclass protests. Pretty recent from the university of missouri. He coedited, reconsidering southern labor history, race, class, power. Charisse jones grant is the endowed professor of history at Arkansas State university. Her recent publications include, crossing the line, womens interracial activism in South Carolina during and after world war ii. Arkansas women, lives in times, coedited with gary edwards. Her current manuscript, which will be out with the university of Arkansas Press is called Better Living by their own bootstraps, rural black womens activism in arkansas, 19131965. Last but not least, Brian Mitchell teaches at the History Department at the university of arkansas at little rock. He has published multiple pieces on various aspects of africanAmerican History, also known for amassing tons of documents associated with the e lane massacre of 1919. He has given so many interviews lately it is hard for me to keep track of this. He is highly sought out for his expertise in these recently uncovered documents. He has been working with guy lancaster recently on a second edition of blood in their eyes. They have been working on that. That will be out in spring, 2020. The also has, i just learned, a graphic novel coming out on reconstruction leader oscar james dunn. Matthew will start with labor activism and africanamericans in arkansas. Charisse will start with the massacre. Brian mitchell, when the depths do not give up their dead, how primary sources are reshaping the debates on the massacre. Ok, so, ironically, for someone who earned a doctorate, i will read my paper without using powerpoint. I will talk about the paper, labor activism, thirdparty politics and africanamericans in arkansas. 1892 was the end of the populist era in arkansas. Elaine massacre shocked the nation but it would have been less shocking for those familiar with the history of Race Relations in arkansas since the civil war. Black farmworkers who tried to engage in collective bargaining have met violent opposition before. Progressive farmers, there were deep roots in the state. The organization of labor in arkansas began after the civil war ended and almost immediately, white oppression and resistance, union league, the sons of agricultural star, the agricultural wheel and the colored Farmers Alliance recruited and mobilized black arkansans during the decades following the civil war. Furthermore, after democrats redeamed the state from republican rule, many africanamericans participated in the struggle to third parties such as the greenback labour party, the union labour party. White men sometimes in the ku klux klan, but usually in less formal policies or mobs frequently resort to violence and bloodshed to crush these efforts, as elsewhere in the south, arkansas democrats also implement it various disenfranchising measures during the early 1890s that disqualify the vast majority of black laborers for decades to come. The elaine massacre represented decades of black activism and white oppression in the state, although it marked the end of neither. In the county where elaine is located, this began right after emancipation. The union league came into arkansas at the same time and began mobilizing black amendments for voter registration, the Republican Party. There was an infamous incident that was a prelude to what happened in elaine on a smaller scale. A former slave named brian began organizing fellow former slaves in the county, reportedly assisted and encouraged by federal officers already occupying Phillips County. Eventually, he formed a small, unnamed, Real Labor Union among his former slaves negotiating mostly with former masters. Ultimately, when the organization could not get a deal, they start leaving the farms there working on, in many cases where there masters have been working. This group of former slaves leave the plantations and form an independent farm colony on abandoned land. They basically took over as quasi owners and operators. This is right after the civil war. The planters led by a man named bart, who later became the sheriff of the county, what happens is, this future sheriff and White Planters go onto this plot of land where brian and compatriots were organizing and operating as independent farmers and start killing them. Brian himself is killed by a mob. For decades after, local legends about his ghost haunting the swamp, supposedly. As far as i know, that is the First Episode of this kind of murderous white oppression of black activism in Phillips County. 5. 5 decades before the elaine massacre of 1919. This murderous episode in no way ends activism. The Freedom Bureau keeps working until it is broken up in 1870. A couple decades later, the knights of labor organize africanamerican workers in Phillips County. The ball is already rolling decades before elaine. The union league was gone after reconstruction. 1870s, Greenback Party comes in to arkansas. Nationally, it didnt amount to much in arkansas. It never elected a governor or congressman. Nevertheless, among africanamericans, greenback in arkansas and elsewhere, becomes important because essentially, by this point, Republican Party has already been scratched in arkansas and the Democratic Party has taken over. The Greenback Party in arkansas builds a biracial movement in the 1870s. In little rock, a former slave and union leader is elected to the state legislature as a representative from little rock. The greenbackers sweep elections. Half the candidates are africanamericans. You have them building a biracial line in little rock. The Greenback Party disappears by the end of 1870. Early 1880s, the whole state of native arkansas farm organizations are formed. The brothers of freedom, northwest. Initially these organizations were all white. At the same time, they are being organized, africanamerican farm groups are being organized as well. Monroe county, africanamerican farmers form the sons of the agricultural star. The same kinds of white organizations are being formed. 1886, they drop to the membership requirement, nevertheless, all these chapters of colored wheel chapters, segregated, they go to the same state meetings. You have white and black together for these agricultural meetings with a membership of 50,000 in arkansas by the 1880s. Suppose these farm groups were nonpartisan. They are all picking up where greenback left off, nominating candidates for local offices and state legislator. 1886, national comes to arkansas. They are massive in terms of their importance. A labor strike, the great Southwestern Railroad strike, 1886, supposedly begins in texas, it is called the southwest strike, south midwest strike. In arkansas, 3000 real workers participate. Most of them are white. Some africanamericans. That plays as a impressive biracial coalition. That is then crushed. Simon hughes, court junctions issued against the strikers. The strike is over in two months in arkansas and everywhere else. July, 1886, after that ends, there was a plantation strike just south of little rock. In this case, 40 africanamerican farmhands who had been on organized, and organizer came in and organize a local chapter and these 40 hands, including some women, go on strike for wage rises. This is an allblack workforce organizing striking in the heart of jim crow era. What happens is, not surprising, the white sheriff of the county, robert worthington, who had already crossed the railroad strike, he comes in with deputies and 5 a. M. In the morning, they come to the door of the leaders. He opens the door, the deputy shoots him with a Double Barrel shotgun. He seriously wounded him. He survived ok, basically. When news gets out, 250 africanamericans come to the farm. I will read the quote from the new york times. The county is on the verge of one of the bloodiest race conflict that has occurred since the war. White law enforcement, all these black men, some armed the knights of labor send a white and African American leader to the plantation to keep the peace. The strike failed. Bloodshed was averted. Sheriff was said to have committed outrages. This would serve as a pretext for organization among them. The planters in the white sheriff were trying to provoke a bloodbath. An opportunity to stamp out black labor. With the arrival of black americans in the community, white law enforcement, the strike failed. It does not turn out like 1919. In the wake of the strikes, biracial organizations with Whites Holding most leadership positions, the membership is biracial. They start moving to third party politics. They dont really have a party banner. The crushing the barrel strike, the railroad strike, that have involved white and black workers and the plantation strike, these were helping to build a biracial antidemocrat coalition. 1886, they dont amount to a lot but it is worth noting in the district that included the county, little rock, langley, a reverend, and a knights of labor leader, he ran for congress independently and received 42 of the vote districtwide. He got 56 in the county where the strikes were held. There was a lot of biracial support. 1888, a third party is there called the Union Labor Party. It was born in cincinnati in 1887 by 300 labor farmers. It never really amounts to much but in certain states and in the southwest, kansas, arkansas, texas, they do. In arkansas, there is already this movement that welcomes new labor parties. 1888 and 1890, both elections, the Union Labor Party had democratic elections that allowed violence and fraud and ballot box that, Union Labor Party had captured control of the arkansas government in 1890. The whole time this is going on, you have chapters of the agricultural wheel, knights of labor organizing throughout the delta, petitioning for reductions of land, tenant sharecropper percentages. It is a synergy between organizations and the thirdparty, the Union Labor Party. It is not like fraudulent elections didnt happen in anywhere but the south still, they are more violent in the south then most parts of the country. 1888, 1890, there are charges of africanamerican men and union labor strongholds being beaten, whipped, as many as 20 being murdered in the 1888 elections in arkansas. A white candidate for congress named john clayton, brother of a former governor, he ran for congress with agricultural wheel support and africanamerican support. He was murdered by democrats. There was another man heavily involved in the thirdparty effort of this period and he actually wins. The president of the state agricultural wheel, he won a district election in northeast arkansas, delta area. In his case, he managed to not get killed and take his seat. Eventually, the lengths to which white arkansas democrats would go, they think nothing of whipping and murdering black men. If a white man is bold enough to challenge them, he might be murdered. 1891, arkansas, two episodes. The democrats, a lot of historians have written about arkansas before i came along. Democrats stole the election in 1890, but it got so violent because they could not keep winning that way. 1891, the Democratic Legislature passed a law. What it did was move control of election machinery away from the counties into the state legislature. Democrats of course. At that time, one out of every seven white men in arkansas was registered in the census bureau. 1891, that year, the colored Farmers Alliance was spreading across the south, starting to organize mostly black farmers, black sharecroppers, tenant farmers. Fall, 1891, before cotton picking season, the white president of the alliance, a man from texas named richard humphrey, proposed a Regional Strike of Cotton Pickers demanding wage rise. They were still striking for one dollar per day. This never really gets off the ground. Lee county, arkansas, not far from Phillips County, it kind of goes back, the groundwork that had been done in this part of arkansas, the Freedom Bureau had been active decades ago, the knights of labor were involved in lee county, mid1880s. I have never been able to get to the bottom of it. Knights of labor were still there when the strike happened. It is one of the few places where it comes off. An organizer from memphis named ben harrison comes in, organizing black Cotton Pickers and the rest of the south, the strike is ignored. Humphreys thought in lee county, the strike actually happened. The short version. Within two weeks, it evolves into a bloodbath. First the strikers start raiding plantations, violence breaks out, the strikers kill a White Plantation manager. At that point, the Phillips County sheriff forms a posse and the strike leader and strikers are captured and murdered in cold blood. They are not arrested. Murdered on the spot. 1891 was the twin tragedy of the farmer labor movement. It was a biracial movement. After the election reform law, most black men are not voting and the way that Cotton Picker strike was demolished, after that there is no organization to fill in the void the agricultural wheel had held. 1892, biracial farm labor activism in arkansas the populist party, 1892, like everywhere else, it was too late. The Union Labor Party had been the populist party in arkansas. After the election reform laws, voter turnout drops 20 . A case in calhoun county, black men showed up armed determent about determined to vote and white officials killed 4 on the spot. In the postcivil war era, 1892, the nadir of biracial farm activism in arkansas. I will be the last sentence and then sit down. Nevertheless, to assert their rights as workers and citizens during reconstruction and the two decades that followed, they should not be considered to have been fruitless or in vain. With a perspective of hindsight, the efforts of brian, newly emancipated black farmhands in Phillips County, the knights of labor in polasky county and elsewhere in the state among black farmhands and laborers and the Cotton Pickers leak in lee county, all pave the way for later activism in the state. Similarly, the efforts of the progressive farmers and Household Union of america, which continued the legacy of earlier protest movements met with violent oppression in Phillips County, 1919, should not put failure upon these efforts. They helped paved the way for the southern tenant farmers union. Became one of the founding members not only did the stfu, revive greenback efforts in arkansas and elsewhere, it often met with violent oppression. Into a ways, it provided a significant legacy for the Civil Rights Movement that followed decades later. Many younger members went on to become leaders in the local Civil Rights Movement in arkansas. The participation of africanamericans in the labor movements in the 1890s should be seen as having laid the foundations for the 20th century. In a lot of ways, the roots of elaine can be found in the populist era. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. The 1919 elaine massacre was precipitated by rural africanamericans through their demands for improved Economic Conditions and Human Dignity at a time in the south and nation determined they were unworthy of both. What has been left out of the story, the struggle for Human Dignity, is womens experiences and activism during and after the elaine massacre. Women witnessed and experienced racial terrorism of the massacre as did their children. Even more so, then black men, rural black women were impoverished and were almost never granted the considerations or protections extended to white women regardless of social or