Arkansas Race Riot

Ida B. Wells-Barnett

In 1920, Ida B. Wells investigated and reported on the Elaine Massacre in Arkansas, a violent incident that occurred when black sharecroppers in Phillips County gathered to discuss better wages and fairer treatment. The meeting was attacked by a white lynch mob, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 100 to 237 black people and five white men. In this account, Wells investigates the racial injustice and the systemic oppression faced by African Americans in the South. She reveals their economic exploitation, the brutal suppression of black labor rights, and the complicity of local law enforcement in the violence, bringing such topics national attention. - Summary by ChuckW