- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Newly discovered historic records reveal new details surrounding the Elaine Massacre

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 16:58:52 +0000

As Arkansas honors the 100th anniversary of the Elaine Massacre this year, a University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor and alumnus are uncovering more secrets surrounding one of the worst race massacres in the country’s history.�� Joseph Alley, a 2016 ��Vlog��ý Little Rock graduate and curator of the, recently discovered the minute book of American Legion Post 41 in Helena. The minute book has entries from the post’s inception in 1919, the same year the Elaine Massacre occurred, through 1925. “Dr. Brian Mitchell (assistant professor of history at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock) and I were talking after the Elaine Massacre Conference held at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center on June 1,” Alley said. “He mentioned some of the documents he was still trying to find, and I mentioned we have all of the Women’s Library Association’s original ledgers from 1888 and on. This was the group that founded the Phillips County Library and Museum. As I was initially going through them, there was one book labeled ‘American Legion.’ Low and behold, it was the 1919 minute book ledger.” In September 1919, representatives of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America met with approximately 100 African-American farmers at a church in Hoop Spur, near Elaine, to discuss unionizing. When a group of white men interrupted the meeting, two white men were shot. A mob of an estimated 500 to 1,000 white people stormed through Phillips County, killing black men, women, and children on sight. U.S. troops were called in, and the mob dispersed Oct. 2. Under an entry titled “POST IN ACTION,” the minute book described the actions of local American Legion members in the midst of the Elaine Massacre on Oct. 1, 1919.�� “…members of the Post were summoned to the Court House as a result of the Assassination of a Special Agent… They were among the first to arrive on the scene of the murder and in the subsequent fighting negro rioters.” Two American Legion members and World War I veterans, James A. Tappan and Clinton Lee, died during the Elaine Massacre. The American Legion members adopted “Resolutions of Respect to the Memory of James A. Tappan and Clinton Lee” on Oct. 14, 1919. The men were heralded as war heroes, and their names were later added to a memorial plaque honoring American Legion members killed during World War I, despite the fact that Tappan and Lee did not die during the war.�� The resolutions state that “There has been an insurrection of Negroes in Phillips County, and the lives and property of our citizens have been placed in jeopardy.” The resolutions further say that Tappan and Lee were killed “while in the line of duty… In preserving law and order and defending the lives and property of our fellow citizens from attacks by Negro insurrections.”

Recently discovered American Legion records from Helena, Arkansas, discuss how two American Legion members and World War I veterans, James A. Tappan and Clinton Lee, died during the Elaine Massacre.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Dr. Brian Mitchell, who is studying the records, said the records are significant because they show a history of those who were directly involved in the Elaine Massacre and show some of the motivations behind their actions. “We know that the first interaction that the sharecroppers union had after the Hoop Spur shooting came from a group of deputized American Legion members who had just returned from World War I,” Mitchell said. “One of the things that the minute book reveals are the efforts that were made by the general populace to ensure, even before trial, that the leaders of the Progressive Farmers and Household Workers Union would be sentenced to death.” Following the Elaine Massacre, hundreds of African Americans were arrested and convicted in questionable trials by all-white juries. The most notorious were a group known as the Elaine 12, a dozen black sharecroppers who were convicted of murder and sentenced to death. An account of the American Legion meeting from Oct. 19, 1920, describes a report from the “committee handling question of securing execution of Negroes sentenced to die in connection with insurrection” as well as an approved motion to “demand execution of Negroes convicted” from the insurrection. According to Mitchell, some members of the American Legion were highly motivated to ensure that black men arrested after the Elaine Massacre received the death penalty in order to send a message to the remaining sharecroppers. “The minute book talks about the contacts they (American Legion members) make with the governor and their demands to be part of the investigation,” Mitchell said. “The same people who were in the mob that hunted down people during the massacre then made demands on the governor that the men would be given the death penalty. They wanted the death penalty because they wanted to send an example for other sharecroppers that might consider legal action against them for stealing their wages. This further substantiates the Supreme Court’s ruling in Moore vs. Dempsey that these individuals did not receive a fair trial.”�� While the minute book will not be on display at the Helena Museum, as it is considered too fragile for display, a digital copy will be made available for public access through the Arkansas State Archives at the end of the summer. “Records of groups and organizations add much to our knowledge about the history of a community by offering a different perspective about events than what newspapers or other published sources give us,” said Wendy Richter, director or the Arkansas State Archives and state historian. “Such records often prove to be valuable resources for researchers.” Mitchell plans to study the records and include the information in a book he is writing with Dr. Guy Lancaster, editor of the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, and Dr. Grif Stockley, author of “Blood in Their Eyes: The Elaine Race Massacre of 1919.” “Just like these documents appeared out of nowhere, who knows what will pop up?” Mitchell said. “That is why it is so important for us to look at journals, letters, and other historical documents that can tell us more about the Elaine Massacre.” Alley was thrilled that the find will contribute to the growing body of knowledge surrounding the Elaine Massacre, but gives credit to the collectors of knowledge who came before him on the library and museum boards. “The Women’s Library Association members were fiends when collecting history,” he laughed. “They took each and every opportunity they could to get something added to the museum. It doesn’t surprise me one bit that it ended up in the collection. I half expect to find the skull of Jimmy Hoffa hiding upstairs in the next year.”��

��Vlog��ý Little Rock essay contest winners explore African-American history in New York City

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 14:52:00 +0000

Eight University of Arkansas at Little Rock students who won a Black History Month essay contest took a free trip to explore African-American history in New York City. �� Dr. John Kirk, director of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity, led the trip July 9-16 in New York City. “The students received an overview of key places and people in New York’s black history to give them a flavor of the city’s contributions to that history and to inspire them to further exploration and study,” Kirk said. “Obviously, this can’t all be covered in a week, but we tried to provide a diverse geographical, chronological, and cultural spectrum of places and activities to experience.” The students were all winners of an essay contest. In 600 words or less, students answered the question: How has any one organization, movement, place, or period in New York City’s history contributed to the African-American struggle for freedom and equality? The students include McKenzi Baker, international studies major; Deuntay Bennett, economics major; Sean Corrothers, accounting major; Jessica Doyne, professional and technical writing major; Ravan Gaston, political science major; Kimberly Maurer, English-secondary education major; Tieranee Ransom, elementary education major; and Tori Williams, English major with a creative writing emphasis. The group started their trip with a walking tour of Harlem, which included stops at the and restaurant, a soul food landmark in the neighborhood. “On the second day, we took a Hip Hop tour of Harlem and the Bronx, guided by of ,” Kirk said. “We had great fun visiting a number of Hip Hop sites and learning about the music’s history and culture. We even had a lesson in breakdancing! That evening we attended Amateur Night at the world-famous in Harlem. Our students joined in the fun and one, Tori Williams, was pulled onto stage to participate along with two others from the audience in an amateur dance competition with the winner chosen by the audience.” Williams agreed that the experience of being selected to participate in the dance competition left him “flummoxed.” “The dance competition was a fun experience,” Williams said. “I was sitting there enjoying the experience when suddenly the spotlight hit me, and the host pointed to me while saying, ‘I want you.’ I wasn’t sure that he was referring to the right person and was frankly a little flummoxed. He confirmed it though, and I headed to the stage. The rest is history as they say. I made my presence felt with my energy, my cooler-than-cool dance moves, and eliciting major cheers at the mention of my hometown, Little Rock, Arkansas.” Additionally, the students took an architectural tour of Manhattan by boat to see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. They also toured Queens and Brooklyn, where they visited the neighborhood, New York’s first black middle-class suburban neighborhood established in the 1940s, and saw the former homes of famous residents Fats Waller, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, James Brown and Jackie Robinson. They also took a trip to the and viewed the former residence of the famous jazz musician. “While the trip as a whole was unforgettable, I have to say that the culture was the most memorable thing to me,” Williams said. “It was interesting to see the brownstones in Queens and learn the history behind the reasons for two doors, or the suburban area in Addisleigh where a myriad of African-American celebrities resided that felt like we weren’t in New York at all, or the exquisite architecture of the tenements in Harlem, or the bodegas and vendors that lined every corner and street. Each area offered a completely new and different experience with a wide variety of nationalities and races.” In the upper right photo, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students visit the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. They include (L to R): Back row: Deuntay Bennett, Sean Corrothers, Tori Williams, Tieranee Ransom, and Mackenzi Baker. Front row: Kimberly Maurer, Ravon Gaston, and Jessica Doyne.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock students win free trip to New York City to explore African-American history

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 17 May 2018 14:23:19 +0000

Eight University of Arkansas at Little Rock students have won a free trip to New York City to explore African-American history after winning an essay contest.�� In honor of Black History Month, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity held an essay contest in February for undergraduate students. In 600 words or less, students answered the question: How has any one organization, movement, place, or period in New York City’s history contributed to the African-American struggle for freedom and equality? Winners include McKenzie Baker, international studies major; Deuntay Bennett, economics major; Sean Corrothers, accounting major; Jessica Doyne, professional and technical writing major; Ravan Gaston, political science major; Kimberly Maurer, English-secondary education major; Tieranee Ransom, elementary education major; and Tori Williams, English major with a creative writing emphasis. The eight winners will visit New York City July 9-15. Airfare, lodging, meals, and entrance to site visits will all be covered. Students will stay at and visit sites such as the Studio Museum of Harlem, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the African Burial Ground National Monument, Black Theater of Harlem, Apollo Theater, Ellis Island, Louis Armstrong Museum, and Grant’s Tomb. The Anderson Institute began the essay contest in 2017 in which eight ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students won a trip to Washington, D.C. to visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture and other historical sites.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock class creates digital archive of long-lost Phillips County death certificates

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 14:51:12 +0000

A history class at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has created a new digital index of Phillips County death certificates from 1917 to 1922.�� Dr. Brian Mitchell’s American Urban History Class created the index during the fall 2017 semester and donated the archive to the Arkansas History Commission so it can be made available for public use. “This project is an important addition to the commission’s collections as it is currently the sole record of African American deaths in the county for that time period,” Mitchell said. “The index would be helpful for future research on public health issues in the region, identifying many of the Elaine Massacre’s victims, and of vital importance to African-American genealogy in the state.” Mitchell went on to note that “students don’t always understand the importance of history as an academic pursuit or understand what public historians do, but classes like this allow them to see how history is useful for the general public.” The class has already received a thank-you email from one amateur genealogist who used the archive to track down the never-before-found death certificate of her great-grandfather. He died in Phillips County in 1918 from an “epidemic.” Students who participated in the class include John Anderson, Tarrie Boggs, Grant Burress, Mark Ford, Laura Fuentes, Corrie Green, Kevin Hill, Benny Mutoni, Ellis Thompson, Christian Weaver, Nicholson Weaver, and Domorion Williams.

The death certificate of Leroy Johnston, who was one of the four Johnston brothers killed during the Elaine Massacre. Leroy had recently returned from fighting in World War I, where he served as part of the 369th Infantry more popularly known as the “Harlem Hellfighters.”

Mitchell’s current research involves creating a digital archive of records related to the 1919 Elaine Massacre. Through his research, he discovered that long-lost death records for Phillips County residents were kept at the Keeshan-Lambert Funeral Home. “The death certificates had been missing from the historic record for a long time,” Mitchell said. “The reason for their absence was the policy in the county at that time was for the coroner to take possession of their own records when they retired. When the coroner retired, the family kept them. Fortunately for the people of Arkansas, the family owned a pretty notable funeral home. Instead of the death certificates being disposed of, they remained in the records of this funeral home. The family donated the records to the Arkansas History Commission.” Since the county’s main newspaper in Helena, The Helena World, did not print many obituaries for African Americans at the time, these records may likely be the only record of death certificates for African Americans in the county during that time period. Mitchell is also hoping the archive will help identify members of the Elaine Massacre that occurred in the first week of October in 1919 in Elaine, Arkansas. Historians have been unable to discover how many people died during the Elaine Massacre. Estimates run from 17 to nearly 800.

The death certificate of Calvin Miller, who Mitchell believes is a previously unidentified victim of the Elaine Massacre, states that Miller died on Oct. 4, 1919, due to a hemorrhage.

“Despite being considered one of the largest race riots in American history, there has never a single identified grave for a black massacre victim.” Dr. Mitchell is hoping that the recovered “death certificates will assist in the identification and the locating of victims’ graves.” “I was fascinated by the fact that you can have that many people missing or disputed and have no records of who died. It’s one of these mysteries that you want to keep pursuing. It’s important to the families of these individuals that there is some accounting of their death. I’ve met a few family members of the individuals who went to prison. For many of those families, they think it is important that some commemoration of all these people be put into place.” The records themselves make it difficult to identify possibly victims of the Elaine Massacre, since many do not list a cause of death or burial site and could have been issued months after the actual death occurred. “The hypothesis we have come to is that many of these death certificates were made up when family members showed up to look for their dead loved one,” Mitchell said. “Many people don’t show up until the following year (1920), and these death certificates tell very little about how their loved ones died or how their bodies were disposed of.” The Phillips County death records span from 1917 to the early 1950s. Mitchell has plans for future classes to continue archiving the records and making them available for public use. In the upper right photo, members of Dr. Brian Mitchell’s class include: Back row (L to R): Ellis E. Thompson; Domorion Williams; Grant Burress; Kevin Hill; Benny Mutoni; and Nicholson Weaver. Front Row: John Anderson; Dr. Brian Mitchell; Corrie Green; and Tarrie Boggs.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock professor seeks to preserve ancestor’s place in African-American history

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 17:21:35 +0000

When Brian Mitchell was a child growing up in New Orleans, Louisiana, he would stay with his great-grandmother after school and ask her to tell him family stories.�� His great-grandmother told him tales of his great-great-great uncle, Oscar James Dunn, who was the first elected African-American lieutenant governor of a U.S. state. Proud of his famous relative, Mitchell, now an assistant professor of history at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, recalled how he once happily told his second-grade teacher about Dunn. His teacher’s response: “There has never been an African-American lieutenant governor in Louisiana.” At the time, there had been three: Dunn, Pinckney Pinchback, and Caesar Antonine. “What was surprising to me was that the teacher did not offer to look it up,” Mitchell recalled. “My great uncle was the equivalent to Barack Obama in his time, but it wasn’t until I got to college that I began hearing about these political figures in any sort of detail.” Dunn was born a slave in 1826 in New Orleans. His stepfather, James Dunn, was a free man of color and stage carpenter for James Caldwell, an English actor who founded the St. Charles Theatre and New Orleans Gas Light Company. James Dunn arrived in the city in 1819 and shortly thereafter began courting a slave named Maria, the mother of Oscar Dunn. On Feb. 5, 1831, James purchased Maria and her children from George P. Bowers, a commission merchant living in the city and freed them the following year on Dec. 13, 1832. Although illiterate himself, James Dunn paid for his stepson, Oscar, to be educated at one of the city’s free black schools. Dunn was later apprenticed and trained as a plasterer. Dunn plied his skills as a plasterer for a number of years before deserting his post after an argument with his employer, Thomas Dryden, a white contractor and retired vocalist. Having abandoned his job, Dunn began a new but short-lived career as a music teacher. Although a popular and skilled teacher, Dunn was forced to stop giving musical instruction after a well-known free black music teacher, Thomas J. Martin, was discovered to have had a series of affairs with his pupils, all of whom were the daughters of well-to-do white families. �� “People begin to scrutinize these African-American music teachers, and Dunn no longer believed it was safe to take on pupils,” Mitchell noted. After the Civil War, Dunn began a business of writing contracts for the freed slaves. His contracts assured former slaves that they would be paid fairly by plantation owners and required that education be provided to their children. “Plantation owners needed workers, and free blacks needed protection,” Mitchell said. “This helped Dunn build trust in the former black slave community. In the free black community, he was the leader of the black Freemasons in the state. Dunn’s connection to both communities made him the ideal candidate for leadership.” Dunn was a rising political star who fought for public education for children, universal suffrage, and civil rights. In 1867, Dunn was elected to the New Orleans Board of Aldermen and proposed free public education for all children between ages 6 and 18. “Dunn was later given the post of assistant recorder in New Orleans, which is similar to a judge,” Mitchell said. “The first case Dunn hears as a city judge, both the plaintiff and the defendant objected to him being the judge, and they both claimed that none of the laws in the state recognized African-Americans as citizens. Dunn quelled the dissent by levying fines on both parties for contempt of court.” In July 1868, Dunn ran on the Republican gubernatorial ticket with Henry Warmoth and was elected Louisiana’s first African-American lieutenant governor. �� “When he became lieutenant governor of Louisiana, Dunn immediately bumped heads with the white governor,” Mitchell said. “Blacks in the state believed that (Warmoth) would be an advocate for African-Americans rights. However, the first bill the integrated legislature put forth was a civil rights bill, which the governor promptly vetoed.” Louisiana Republicans split their support between Warmoth and Dunn. The Radical Republicans, who supported Dunn, mounted an effort to impeach Warmoth for corruption.

Prof. Brian Mitchell is photographed in front of a portrait of his ancestor, Oscar James Dunn. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III/��Vlog��ý Little Rock Communications.

At the height of Dunn’s political career, just before he was poised to become the first African- American governor of Louisiana, he mysteriously died on Nov. 22, 1871, after a brief and sudden illness. “It was right on the verge of Warmoth’s impeachment that Dunn dies,” Mitchell explained. “Had Dunn lived, he would have become the first African-American governor in the U.S. Many of his supporters contended that Dunn’s conveniently timed death was due to poisoning.” Dunn’s death was the target of speculation and political intrigue. Dunn’s symptoms were consistent with arsenic poisoning, according to Nick Weldon of the Historic New Orleans Collection. Four of the seven doctors who examined Dunn’s body refused to sign an official cause of death because of their suspicions of murder. However, the cause of Dunn’s death – whether natural or murder – remains unknown since his family refused an autopsy. Mitchell, who wrote his dissertation about Dunn, found a document that alludes to the idea that Dunn was threatened by a political rival shortly before his death. “Thomas Chester Morris maintained that Pinchback (who became lieutenant governor after Dunn’s death) approached a friend of Dunn’s and said he had information that would ruin Dunn’s family if the information got out,” he said. Mitchell believes the information may have been an allegation that Dunn and his wife, Ellen Boyd Marchand, who was a widow, may have had an affair while Ellen’s first husband was still alive. “Dunn had formed a broad-based coalition of blacks and whites, Creoles and Anglo, free men and former slaves, and Catholics and Protestants on the basis of morality and decency, ” Mitchell said. “With Louisiana being divided between Catholics and Protestants, he didn’t bring religion into it. He ran on a very moral ground. He didn’t accept bribes, nor did he smoke, gamble, or drink. The allegations that he had taken part in an adulterous affair would have been extremely scandalous at the time. A report like this could have derailed early efforts for civil rights.” An estimated 50,000 people attended Dunn’s funeral, one of the largest in New Orleans history. His unexpected death left his widow financially destitute and a fundraising drive was started on behalf of the family. Frederick Douglass, former slave and noted black orator, helped to raise funds for the family, and the state legislature passed a bill to pay the mortgage on the lieutenant governor’s home. Louisiana allocated $10,000 to build a monument to honor Dunn, but it . Mitchell is in talks to have his book on Dunn’s history published as both an academic book and a graphic novel for younger audiences. “I remember thinking as a child that the only things we were taught were that our ancestors were slaves and then Martin Luther King Jr. came,” Mitchell said. “There is this huge absence of discussions of free African-Americans before the Civil Rights movement. I thought Dunn’s story might be a good draw to children to study African-American history.”

Students win trip to Museum of African American History and Culture

Ajani Oyindamola — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 17:31:25 +0000

While writing about the need for America to have museums that focus on African American history, Rebecca Doyne expressed how easy it is to feel lost without a way to discover the struggles and triumphs of the people who came before you.�� “I, as an African American, have an incredible and rich history that did not begin with bondage,” said Doyne, a University of Arkansas at Little Rock senior from College Station, Arkansas. “Most won’t know because that’s the heaviest topic covered in textbooks when it comes to general history in America.” Doyne is one of eight ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students who went to Washington, D.C., after winning an essay contest to promote knowledge of African American history. In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black History Month, the Joel E. Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity held an essay contest in February in which students answered: “Why does the United States need a National Museum of African American History and Culture?” The winners include:

��Kennedy Butler, junior art history major from Little Rock
��Sean Corrothers, junior accounting major from Little Rock
��Rebecca Doyne, senior advertising and marketing major from College Station
��Ravan Gaston, sophomore political science major from Jonesboro
��Jarodrick Mixon, senior health and performance major from Dumas
��Jessica Tate, junior international studies and Spanish major from Nashville
��Kiahjea Ward, junior mass communications major from Little Rock
��Tori Williams, junior English major from Little Rock

The winners received a trip to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.��The facility is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture. To date, the museum has collected more than 36,000 artifacts. During the weekend of June 2-4, Anderson Institute Director John Kirk and the students traveled to Washington, D.C., to visit the museum, the White House, the National Mall, and other sites. The group also met with Dr. Adjoa Aiyetoro, former director of the Anderson Institute and a retired ��Vlog��ý Little Rock law professor. “Taking the students on these trips is fascinating,” Kirk said. “Out of the eight students, two had never flown before. I think the students had a great time. This essay contest gave some of them their first opportunity to go on a flight, to see a big city, to discover more about African American history, and to experience the nation’s capital city.” One student winner, Kiahjea Ward, wrote about “not fully understanding what it meant to be black in America” until her senior year of high school. Ward appreciated the chance to learn more about her heritage. “I wrote my essay about growing up and not really knowing too much about being black,” she said. “The most interesting thing I learned about African American History is that being black isn’t a curse. Going to the museum and seeing all that we have done is definitely encouraging. No matter what, we will persevere.” In the upper right photo, students who won a trip to Washington, D.C. through an essay contest with the Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Pictured, from left to right, are: Dr. John Kirk,��Tori Williams, Jarodrick Mixon, Rebecca Doyne, Jessica Tate, Kennedy Butler, Kiahjea Ward, Ravan Gatson, and Sean Corrothers.

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

Newly discovered historic records reveal new details surrounding the Elaine Massacre

����Vlog��ý Little Rock essay contest winners explore African-American history in New York City

����Vlog��ý Little Rock students win free trip to New York City to explore African-American history