Early 20th Century
In the first few decades of the 20th century, racial tensions between
white and African-Americans grew once again. At the outbreak of World
War I, many African-Americans left Arkansas to work in wartime
industries in the North. African-American soldiers served in the
armies, but were segregated from their white counterparts. In 1919, a
race riot broke out in Elaine in Phillips County. Feeling that many
African-American sharecroppers had not received their share of wages,
they wanted to join the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of
America. The white citizens of the town thought the society was trying
to persuade the sharecroppers to create violence. In October of 1919,
union members met near Elaine under armed guards. Two armed white men -
one a deputy sheriff, the other a railroad worker - showed up with guns
and a fight ensued. Both men were shot and the railroad worker was
killed. For two days, several African-Americans and white citizens of
the area were killed in fighting. The fighting ended when Gov. Charles
Brough brought in United States soldiers to contain the violence. At
the end, 65 African-Americans were brought to trial. Twelve were
sentenced to death and the others appealed to higher courts. Scipio
Jones, the African-American lawyer from Little Rock, helped to fight for
justice for the accused at Elaine. He received help from the newly
formed National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP). As a result, the rest of the condemned men were set free and
the governor brought African-American and white citizens together for
discussion on problems between the races. No clear-cut answer was
found.
Throughout the Great Depression, African-Americans, as did the
rest of the nation, suffered from unemployment and rising poverty. In
World War II, African-American men once again found themselves enlisting
in a segregated U.S. Army and working for low pay at defense plants.
These soldiers who came to Arkansas to train from Northern states
experienced segregation in the South firsthand. Many African-Americans
began to fight for equality during World War II. Unions were formed to
make sure that hiring was not based on race and that government
contracts were given to private industries. This resulted in the Fair
Employment Practices commission. At this time, the police force in
Little Rock also hired its first eight African-American law enforcement
officers to reduce racial tensions in the city. The fight for the
policemen was led by Daisy Bates and her husband, L.C. They ran the
only African-American newspaper, the Arkansas State
Press, which is still published today.
Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Little Rock served as an
outstanding facility for African-American education in Arkansas. Named
for the "Poet Laureate" of the Negro race, Paul Laurence Dunbar, the
school was previously named the Negro School of Industrial Arts, a
junior-senior high school that offered education and college preparatory
courses and trade classes until 1955. African-American students from
all over Arkansas were sent to Dunbar to receive a quality education.
Today, the school is Dunbar Junior High School and listed on the
National Register of Historic Places and a strong alumnus association of
former students, teachers and graduates promotes educational, civic and
social interests, and preserves the memory of the Dunbar facility.
During World War II, African-American educators in Little Rock
requested higher pay. Led by Scipio Jones, the NAACP's Thurgood
Marshall and Susie Morris, a teacher at Dunbar High School, fought for
equal pay with white teachers in the school district. Arkansas courts
ruled against Morris but the U.S. Appeal's Court overturned the ruling
in 1945.
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