About the Center

The Center for Arkansas History and Culture (CAHC) at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock strives to be a unique and reliable resource that explores and promotes Arkansas’s rich history through identifying, collecting, and preserving Arkansas records that are of enduring value to the state.

Mission

The UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture collects, preserves, and enables access to Arkansas records of enduring value; prepares students and the region for the 21st century through academic leadership and education on archival practices and technologies; and engages the community through outreach, programming, and exhibitions.

About the Exhibit

The “Elaine Race Massacre: Red Summer in Arkansas” was made possible in partnership with the Arkansas Humanities Council with a grant from the Democracy and the Informed Citizen Initiative by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The project is a collaborative work between the UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture, local historians, and community members to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the Elaine Massacre of 1919.

Credits

Project Contributors

Dr. Deborah Baldwin - Associate Provost and Director, Center for Arkansas History and Culture
John Burnett - Union and Civil Rights Lawyer in Little Rock, Arkansas
Jessica Chavez - Graduate Assistant, Center for Arkansas History and Culture
Jared Craig - Virtual Exhibit Coordinator, Center for Arkansas History and Culture
Adrienne Jones - Research and Scholarly Communications Archivist, Center for Arkansas History and Culture
Dr. Cherisse Jones-Branch - Professor of History, Arkansas State University
Dr. Barclay Key - Associate Professor and Director of Public History, UA Little Rock, Department of History
Dr. Guy Lancaster - Editor, Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, Central Arkansas Library System
Dr. Kristin Mann - Professor of History and Social Studies Education Coordinator, UA Little Rock, Department of History
Andrew McClain - Graduate Assistant, Center for Arkansas History and Culture
Laura McClellan - Assistant Director, Center for Arkansas History and Culture
Dr. Brian Mitchell - Professor of History, UA Little Rock, Department of History
Sarah Riva - Doctoral Candidate and Graduate Assistant, University of Arkansas
Grif Stockley - Attorney and Author
Elise Tanner - Director of Digital Projects and Initiatives, Center for Arkansas History and Culture


Home Page Video Credits

Slide A: Charles Hillman Brough Papers, Arkansas State Archives; Slide B: "Picking Cotton Near Lehi, Arkansas," Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Library of Congress; Slide C; "Delta Plantation Landscape," Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Library of Congress; Slide D: Moore v. Dempsey, Records of the U.S. Supreme Court, National Archives; "Arkansas Cotton Pickers," Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Library of Congress; Slide E: Charles Hillman Brough Papers, Arkansas State Archives; Slide F: Moving smoke stock footage, videezy.com; Slide G: Charles Hillman Brough Papers, Arkansas State Archives; Slide H: Charles Hillman Brough Papers, Arkansas State Archives; "The Honorable Charles Hillman Brough," Bernie Babcock Photograph Collection (UALR.PH.0060), UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture; Slide I: "State of Arkansas," Library of Congress; "Freight Train," Library of Congress; Slide J: Charles Hillman Brough Papers, Arkansas State Archives; Slide K: "State of Arkansas," Library of Congress; Slide L: "U.S. Army Infantry Troops, African-American Unit," Library of Congress; Slide M: Charles Hillman Brough Papers, Arkansas State Archives;  Slide N: "War Jury," National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress; Slide O: "The U.S. Supreme Court," Library of Congress; Slide P: "U.S. Capitol, Old Supreme Court Chamber," Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress; Slide Q: Charles Hillman Brough Papers, Arkansas State Archives; Slide R: "Arkansas Delta Farm," Library of Congress; Slide S: Charles Hillman Brough Papers, Arkansas State Archives


Learn More

UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture

African Americans Photograph Collection (UALR.PH.0052)

Phillips County Scenes Photograph Collection, 1864-1941 (UALR.PH.0046)

Arkansas State Archives

Governor Charles Hillman Brough Papers

Butler Center of Arkansas Studies

Grif Stockley Papers (BC.MSS.01.01)

People Photograph Collection (BC.PHO.9)

Tom Dillard Black Arkansiana Materials (BC.MSS.00.10)

 

University of Arkansas at Fayetteville Special Collections

Harry Anderson to C.H. Brough, October 7, 1919, Charles Brough Collection, Series 1, Box 4, Folder 55, Item 87. 

David Y. Thomas Papers, Series 1, Box 1, Folder 2. 

A.C. Miller to D.Y. Thomas, December 23, 1919

January 1, 1920 letter from D.Y. Thomas asking for info

E.M. Allen to Thomas, January 4, 1910

Greenfield Quarles to Thomas, January 5, 1920

U.S. Bratton to Thomas, March 1, 1920

Bratton to Thomas, September 15, 1921

Letter to Editor of the New York Times, “About Race Troubles in Arkansas,” February 9, 1920

 

Books

Stockley, Grif. Blood in Their Eyes: the Elaine Race Massacres of 1919. Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press, 2001.

Whitaker, Robert. On the Laps of Gods: the Red Summer of 1919 and the Struggle for Justice that Remade a Nation. New York: Crown Publishers, 2008.

Law Study Resources

Fitzhugh, Kathryn C. "Elaine Race Massacre: Bibliography of Briefs and Records," UA Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law Library. https://ualr.edu/law/files/2011/04/Elaine-Race-Massacre-Bibliography.pdf (accessed March 8, 2019).

 

Master's Thesis

Bessie Ferguson, “The Elaine Race Riot.” MA thesis, George Peabody College for Teachers, 1927.

 

Public Domain Sources

Moore v. Dempsey, 261 US 86Google Scholar. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1098076152280628382&q=moore+v+dempsey&hl=en&as_sdt=1006 (accessed March 8, 2019).

Wells, Ida B. The Arkansas Race Riot . Internet Archivehttps://archive.org/details/TheArkansasRaceRiot/page/n2 (accessed March 8, 2019). 

White, Walter F. “'Massacring Whites' in Arkansas," The Nation, December 6, 1919. Google Bookshttps://books.google.com/books?id=bvE4AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false (accessed March 8, 2019). 

 

Videos

"Elaine Massacre Report from November 2017," YouTube video, posted by KARK, September 25, 2018," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_GSgef44Qo.

 

View a Full Bibliography Here