Sept. 30, 1919: Elaine Massacre

[G_j]

https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/elaine-massacre/

On Sept. 30, 1919 Black farmers met in Elaine, Arkansas with Robert L. Hill to establish the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America to fight for better pay and higher cotton prices.

A white mob shot at them, and the farmers returned fire in self-defense. News of the confrontation spread and a massacre ensued, leaving more than 100 (estimates up to 800) African Americans dead, 67 indicted for inciting violence, and 12 Black sharecroppers (the Elaine 12) sentenced to death.

Not only were African Americans massacred, they were also blamed for the event and charged with murder.

The Elaine Massacre occurred at the end of Red Summer of 1919 — a series of brutal attacks on African Americans in more than three dozen cities including Chicago, Washington, D.C., Norfolk, Knoxville, and more cities.

..more..

[brush]

1. Hundreds of lives, property and land lost and some wonder why there's a call for reparations.

And this and many other massacres of African Americans happened many years after 250 years of enslavement, which in an of itself is a glaring reason for reparations, ended.

And let met blunt the usual first negative reaction before it can get started. No individual checks cut please, but job training and placement, small business grants, college tuition, school and neighborhood development and improvement, computer education—these sort of initiatives would be a bargain considering the huge amount of money the stolen wages of millions of enslaved humans for 250 years of dawn-to-dusk unpaid labor would amont to. If the principal of compounding where money doubles every seven years was in effect, that huge sum of stolen money would break the US Treasury if it had to be paid back so the above recommendations are a distinct bargain.

[bobbieinok]

2. ?!?!They want to build memorial in town where whites planned massacre, not in Elaine!! Tourist $$$

William Lindsay (b in Arkansas, lives in Little Rock) some weeks ago had a long post about the massacre and the whites' plan to co-opt the memorial at his blog bilgrimage.blogspot.com

[lunasun]

3. K+R Red summer in Chicago there are pictures of the homes destroyed and people attacked

in this wiki link below But that was in the middle of Red Summer I. July 1919

38 dead- 23 black 15 white and about 1000-2000 mostly black residents lost their home
Here it was not farmers attacked
Anger at black veterans who were demanding rights after serving in the war
Irish gangs wearing blackface setting fire to Eastern Europe immigrants homes and blaming it on blacks to anger the immigrants . The mayor, police, and governor playing political games
Labor issues over jobs . A migration growing from the repressive south to Chicago
The death after a boy’s raft accidentally floated into a white beach area and the police doing nothing about his death

Btw Richard Daley Sr, later mayor ( for way toooo long) belonged to one of the
Irish gangs ( termed clubs) and was at one point leader of the club

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_race_riot_of_1919

Thank you for your history that happened 100 years ago today in Elaine, Arkansas
I believe history must be acknowledged by all for this country to move forward in unity
As your link mentions , although this happened all over the country ,it is rarely in history textbooks or included in classroom curriculum