The Elaine Massacre

The Elaine Massacre

Presented by Dr. Brian Mitchell

In September of 1919, black sharecroppers attended a meeting of the Progressive Farmers & Household Union at a church just north of Elaine. The objective was to accomplish competitive prices for their cotton. Instead, they found the church surrounded, ending in a shootout with white supremacist farmers. Posses & nightriders were sent out. Black farmers were hunted & shot by white mobs. U S troops were called in & created stockades to house their prisoners. Hundreds (unknown) black farmers, including a WWI hero, were killed, with only 5 white deaths. The deadliest racial confrontation in Arkansas, possibly the bloodiest in the US.

Brian’s presentation explores the Life and Legacy of the youngest member of the Elaine Twelve. In Giles’ brief life, he would go from Sharecropper, to Death Row inmate, and would ultimately die in Springfield, Illinois.

Former Director of Research and Interpretation for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Dr. Brian Mitchell, is a noted scholar of “Difficult History.” Mitchell taught African American and Public History at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for fifteen years before relocating to Springfield, Illinois. The author of several books, book chapters, and papers. Mitchell’s most recent book, Monumental: Oscar Dunn and his radical fight in Reconstruction Louisiana was the winner of several prestigious book awards including, the Phillis Wheatley Book Award, The American Association of State and Local History’s (AASLH) Excellence Award, and was a finalist for the Organization of American Historians’ Best Civil War and Reconstruction Book Award.

CHAT