The Race Riot They Didn't Teach You

The Elaine Race Massacre is one the deadliest in U.S. history.

I wrote this post in the lobby of the hotel during my latest trip. I’ll drive four hours tonight. Also this evening, I’ll finish prepping for a talk I have for an event tomorrow. I’ll teach my history class, and prep for another talk and trip I have this weekend.

I consider this work a ministry, so I’ll keep doing it. But it’s simply not sustainable without your tangible support.

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The Elaine Massacre occurred from September 30-October 2, 1919. It was one of the bloodiest race riots in U.S. history, and almost no one knows about it.

The rampage started after Black sharecroppers met at church in Hoop Spur, Arkansas near the town of Elaine (EE-layne), to strategize about how to get fair prices for the cotton they picked.

White law enforcement officials pulled up outside of the church where the meeting took place and a shootout ensued. By the end, one officer was wounded and the other lay dead.

Word went out to the white community of a “Negro insurrection.” In response, white people formed armed posses and went looking for Black people.

The exact number of Black people lynched during this massacre may never be known, but estimates range near 200.

As significant as this tragic event is, few people know about it today.

Photo taken at the grand opening of the Elaine Massacre Memorial in Helena, AR in 2019

Maybe it’s because these were poor, rural Black sharecroppers and not wealthy, urban people. Maybe it’s due to the deliberate conspiracy of silence by the white community who suppressed honest public dialogue about it.

Maybe it’s due to the danger and risk Black people faced if they spoke up about the murders. Maybe it’s also due to the trauma and the pain of the entire debacle.

The reason I know about the Elaine Massacre is because I lived for many years in Phillips County, Arkansas, just 20 minutes from where the race riot occurred.

Over the years I’ve met descendants of both victims and perpetrators. I’ve studied the event. Grieved over the tragedy.

I put all my knowledge into a teach-in about the Elaine Massacre to discuss what happened over those fateful days in 1919.

I also speak about the court cases that ensued and how Moore v. Dempsey helped lay the groundwork for the legal attacks against the Jim Crow regime during the Civil Rights movement.

You can watch by clicking the link below.

What had you heard about the Elaine Massacre? Why do you think more people don’t know about it? Leave a comment below.

I wrote about a pastor who helped shepherd the Black community in the aftermath of the Elaine Massacre. His name was Elias Camp Morris, and he was the first president of the National Baptist Convention. His church, Centennial Baptist Church, was in Phillips County where the massacre occurred. Read more about him and the event in The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race, and Resistance.