what happened to helena, arkansas

100 Rock Street The Memphis Press stated that white locals were so enraged that they were firing bullets into black corpses as they left Helena en route to Elaine. They secured new trials for six of the men, known as the Ware defendants, based on the fact that the trial judge had not required jurors to indicate the degree of murder on their ballot forms.The convictions of the other six men, known as the Moore defendants, were affirmed. Helena, city, seat (1830) of Phillips county, eastern Arkansas, U.S., port of the Mississippi River, about 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Memphis, Tennessee, and adjacent to the city of West Helena. He made an agreement with Price, who was much more popular with the general public, that he would publicly support the decision of the attack in the case of a failure. A memorial to those killed in the Elaine massacre of 1919 was dedicated on Sunday. Pierce, Michael, and Calvin White, eds. Krugler, David F. 1919, The Year of Racial Violence: How African Americans Fought Back. Hostility toward him was so great from local white residents that, out of fear for his life, he was said to sleep at a different black familys house every night during the trials. (2000) 6,323; (2010) 12,282. Here are some tips. Updates? White wrote in the Chicago Daily News on October 19, 1919, that the belief there had been an insurrection was only a figment of the imagination of Arkansas whites and not based on fact. He said, White men in Helena told me that more than one hundred Negroes were killed. Famed journalist and anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett secretly interviewed some of the prisoners in Helena, from which she produced the pamphlet The Arkansas Race Riot. This work also challenged allegations of an insurrection and documented the torture and other depredations the prisoners had suffered. [73] Holmes ordered the 8th Missouri Infantry Regiment (Burns') to attack Fort Curtis,[66] but upon seeing the regiment charge, the rest of Parsons' men joined in, believing a general attack was beginning. The heroism of black soldiers in the war enhanced the struggle for black freedom, causing industrialists and plantation owners to brace themselves for the return of black veterans. They described the wholesale massacre of hundreds of unarmed and defenseless black people, and the torture used to secure confessions. The descendants of the massacre have begun to organize to make their stories heard. Helena was the county seat of Phillips County[3] until January 1, 2006, when it merged its government and city limits with neighboring West Helena. Because Price had not yet attacked, Fagan's men came under fire from both Battery D and Battery C.[49] Fagan's Confederates broke through the second Union line, then a third and fourth, but then halted at about 7:00 am, their attack spent. 30.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. In June 1863, Confederate Commander Theophilus Holmes sought to take pressure off of Vicksburg, Mississippi, by attacking the Union-held town of Helena, Arkansas. The Helena time zone is Central Daylight Time which is 6 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The twelve men were: Frank Moore, Frank Hicks, Ed Hicks, Joe Knox, Paul Hall, Ed Coleman, Alfred Banks, Ed Ware, William Wordlaw, Albert Giles, Joe Fox, and John Martin. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Pascal, Olivia. and the Arkansas Riot Cases; Ida Wells Barnett, The Elaine Race Riot; Guy Lancaster, The Elaine Massacre and Arkansas: A Century of Atrocity and Resistance, 1819-1919; Grif Stockley, Blood in Their Eyes: The Elaine Arkansas Race Massacre., Nan Elizabeth Woodruff us an emeritus professor of African American studies and modern United States history at Pennsylvania State University and the author of American Congo: The African American Freedom Struggle in the Delta.. Race, Labor, and Violence in the Delta: Essays to Mark the Centennial of the Elaine Massacre. My sadness comes from the senseless murder of human beingsso many that there isnt an exact number, which is wrong on so many levels. What a travesty of justice. Smith, a 1980 graduate of Helena-West Helena Central High School, graduated from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., in 1984. White attorneys from Helena were appointed by Circuit Judge J. M. Jackson to represent the first twelve black men to go to trial. The committees narrative appeared in newspapers all over the country. [40] At 4:05 am, Fagan's skirmishers sighted the Union position, and with the day dawning, Fagan attacked with three infantry regiments. [57] Confusion was initially caused by the two brigades being separated by a ridge and unable to see each other. 1859-02-28 Arkansas legislature requires free blacks to choose exile or slavery. [59], Holmes lost 1,636 of the 7,646 men he had taken into the battle: 173 killed, 687 wounded, and 776 missing. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2020. [20] Overall, the Confederates had 7,646 men. At least two historians, including myself, have settled on a reasonable estimate of 200, recognizing that the toll was most likely far greater. Krug, Teresa. Confederate infantry deserted in large numbers, their morale shattered. American Congo: The African American Freedom Struggle in the Delta. Holmes planned and executed three different failed attacks on the town. Cortner, Richard C. A Mob Intent on Death: The NAACP and the Arkansas Riot Cases. Race relations in this area of Arkansas are currently quite strained for a number of reasons, including the events of 1919. On the Laps of Gods: The Red Summer of 1919 and the Struggle for Justice that Remade a Nation. Hundreds of black citizens were killed in Elaine, Ark., a century ago this week. He made no motion for a change of venue, nor did he challenge a single prospective juror, taking the first twelve called. Local officials and businessmen conducted their own investigation of what had transpired in the Elaine area. Richard Hall asked my father to come to Mississippi to visit him. A shooting incident that occurred at a meeting of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union escalated into mob violence on the part of the white people in Elaineand surrounding areas. Historical Events. Online at http://history.msu.edu/files/2010/04/Mark-Ellis.pdf (accessed August 16, 2022). The converging attack would be difficult, and the generals interpreted Holmes' order to begin the attack at "daylight" differently. Federal Troops and the Elaine Massacres: A Colloquy. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 61 (Autumn 2002): 272283. There she interviewed the 12 prisoners accused of murder, their wives, and many others, publishing her findings in a 1920 pamphlet. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2012. [99], Helena was reinforced and in mid-August, Union forces began a campaign against Little Rock, with Helena as the staging ground. At the same time, the New York offices of the NAACP, upon the advice of Arkansas attorney Ulysses S. Bratton, hired the Little Rock law firm of George Murphy, a former attorney general and candidate for governor, as counsel for the twelve men. [7], On June 9, Holmes learned that the strength of the Union forces in Helena was about 3,000 or 4,000 men, and decided against an attack. The Battle of Helena was fought on July 4, 1863, near Helena, Arkansas, during the American Civil War. [81] The Union troops had taken advantage of the severe disorganization and scattering of the Confederate forces to take the prisoners. On the third try, the Confederates managed to overrun Battery C, but the men from the 33rd Missouri had time to spike one cannon and take supplies necessary for firing before the Confederates captured the guns. Facebook/Historic Arkansas Facts and Photos. [85] Walker's withdrawal occurred at about 2:00 pm. Founded in 1871, the Helena World is one of Arkansas' oldest newspapers. Jackson: University and College Press of Mississippi, 1972. Workers also had to buy food, clothing, household wares, tools, seed and fertilizer at the plantation commissary, which charged exorbitant interest rates. Livingston, Kelly, and Madison Peek. [78] Including the men of the 37th Arkansas, about 250 Confederates surrendered in Fagan's sector. The wife of Frank Moore had hidden for four weeks. If you can, provide 1-2 sources of information backing up this correction. [32] Walker's specific orders were to "act against the enemy as circumstances may justify", a vague order that left him under his own initiative and resulted in him accomplishing little in the coming battle. They produced a predictable narrative that resembled those dating back to slavery. According to Christ, Prentiss lost 220 of the 4,129 men he took into battle: 57 killed, 127 wounded, and 36 missing. These are the same people who dont understand why African Americans choose Black Lives Matter as a valid starting point. 5. Watson was but one of 97 Black people lynched in Arkansas in the decade spanning 1891 to 1900 93 males and 4 females. VHS Documentary. Helena, AR 72342 Phone: (870) 338-5555 Phillips County Criminal Records Phillips County records their criminal activity in the form of criminal records. When I was a little girl, I remember my father, Willie Hall, receiving a letter from his uncle, Richard Hall, who was his fathers brother. Since Prentiss was aware of a coming attack, the Confederates would not have the advantage of surprise. The Arkansas Gazette reported at least fifteen black bodies in Helena's streets and it's outskirts. Authorities say Wallace and other police officers were looking for Howard, who was wanted on charges in connection to a shooting in Helena-West Helena about a week ago. [97] Vicksburg had surrendered on July 4, and the Confederate garrison at Port Hudson, Louisiana fell within a week. The county was named for Sylvanus Phillips, and the settlement was renamed (1821) for his daughter. They stole Wares cow, two mules, one horse, a farm wagon, his Ford car and various household goods. The purpose of the meeting, one of several by black sharecroppers in the Elaine area during the previous months, was to obtain better payments for their cotton crops from the white plantation owners who dominated the area during the Jim Crow era. Wikipedia On April 10, 1929, an F5 tornado struck northern Jackson County. : 1920. Waskow, Arthur I. Holmes noted that the defenses of Helena were stronger than he expected, but carried on with the attack anyway. It was a system intended to keep black people in debt and dependent upon planters. Colonel Jenckss report of his mission supported this view, claiming only two black people and one of his corporals had died. Inc. town, 1833; city, 1856. [59] The cannons in Battery C were manned by men from the 33rd Missouri Infantry Regiment, and they, along with a portion of the 33rd Iowa, poured a deadly fire into Parsons' men, while Battery B fired at McRae's brigade. For additional information: The Elaine Riot of 1919: Race, Class, and Labor in the Arkansas Delta. PhD diss., University of WisconsinMilwaukee, 2019.

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