In 1919, after the end of World War I, Black sharecroppers in Arkansas began to unionize to assist themselves. This attempt to form unions, triggered white vigilantism and mass killings, that left 237 Blacks dead.
Towards the end of 1918, attorney Ulysses S. Bratton of Little Rock, Arkansas started to assist them, by listening to their stories of theft, exploitation, and never ending debt. One man by the name of Carter, explained how he cultivated 90 acres of cotton and then had his
landlord confiscate the crop and all of his possessions. No one realized that
within a year of meeting with Mr. Bratton, one of the worst incidents of racial violence in U.S. would ever happenend. In a report released by the Equal Justice Initiative, white people in the Delta region of the South, started a massacre that left 237 Black people dead.
Even though the one-time death toll was unusually high, it was not
uncommon for whites to use racial violence to intimidate Blacks.
The white elites of the region understood that the only way they
could maintain their economic prosperity was to exploit Black
sharecroppers and laborers. In the end, 237 Black people were killed because they wanted fair compensation for the crops they harvested.
No one was ever charged or any trials held for anyone that took part
in the mass lynchings. The basis for these heinous crimes was the
reassertion of white supremacy after veterans returned home from World
War I. The white militias wanted to send a message that they were going
to keep the Blacks in their ‘place.’ But what made 1919 unique, was the
willingness and fortitude, of the Black sharecroppers and their community to engage in armed resistance against white oppression.
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