Tense relations between whites and blacks, including violence, continued to plague the Arkansas delta well after the events in Elaine occurred. Military troops remained in the area, for a short period, where it is widely believed that the use of force and other fear tactics were used in order to “keep the peace”.  Unsurprisingly, most of the Elaine Twelve did not move back to Arkansas after their prison release for fear of their family’s safety.

Even though steady migration out of Arkansas continued from the late 1800s through 1970, a noticeable spike of 5,660 black citizens left Phillips County between 1920 and 1930. During this ten year timeframe, the Elaine Twelve’s trials were continually covered by the press, including the 1923 release of the Ware defendants and the 1925 release of the Moore defendants. Because these men were exonerated, racial tensions in surrounding areas remained high, adding the Elaine Race Massacre to a list of possible factors responsible for black migration out of Arkansas. Other factors included job scarcity and the overpopulation of available farmland.

As a result, many families relocated to larger cities in search of better opportunities. This was true for many of the Elaine Twelve. Frank Moore relocated to Chicago to work as a night watchman where he died in 1932. He was buried in Little Rock National Cemetery. Albert Giles moved to Springfield, Illinois where he initially began work as a bricklayer, but fell into a life of crime. He was arrested multiple times with a colorful rap sheet that included pistol-whipping a man and running a speakeasy during Prohibition. He died in Springfield in 1937 after he was beaten during a violent altercation. Alfred Banks married in 1924 and moved his family to Chicago, Illinois. He worked as a janitor until his death from lung cancer in 1941. Ed Ware relocated to Saint Louis, Missouri but died six years later in 1929. Ed Coleman also died shortly after his prison release. He moved to Memphis, Tennessee and found work as a laborer, only to become hospitalized for prostate related complications. He died twenty-two days later in 1928. Paul Hall eventually resurfaced in Columbus, Ohio where he died in an assisted living facility in 1963. Additionally, Joseph Knox is currently the only defendant known to have permanently returned to Arkansas.  He became a Baptist minister in Little Rock and died of a heart attack in 1941.

However, both Hicks brothers, Joseph Fox, William Wordlaw, and John Martin seemed to have successfully disappeared. Nothing has been found about these men post prison. It is speculated that some may have assumed aliases, while others, who were considered mulatto, like Fox, may have passed as white. Currently, historians are continuing to uncover new information pertaining to the individuals affected by the Elaine Massacre through unpublished materials including census records, death certificates, prison documents and marriage records.

Subsequently, these men and many others in Phillips County chose to relocate their families in hopes of preserving future legacies.  The families who were unable to leave continued to endure the hardships of plantation life with the dark reminder of the massacre echoing from the witnesses who passed the details from family member to family member until it became more lore than reality.

Header Image: African Americans Photograph Collection (UALR.PH.0052), UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture.