Term Paper on "Blood in Their Eyes the Elaine Race Massacre of 1919 by Grif Stockley"

Term Paper 6 pages (1756 words) Sources: 0 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

night of September 30th, 1919, a conflict between white law enforcement officers and black farmer erupted into gunfire. Elaine, Arkansas suddenly became the center of a maelstrom of controversy and bloodshed. Over a period of three days, hundreds of armed white activists bombarded the city, killing at least fifteen African-Americans while forcing numerous others into hiding in nearby woodlands. This was the stage for what has become popularly known as the Elaine Race Riot, an emblematic event within the history of racial tension and conflict in the South. Grif Stockley's stirring account "Blood in Their Eyes: The Elaine Race Massacre of 1919" presents a vivid depiction of this event and its implications to the wider issue of Southern race relations. As one of the bloodiest and most tension filled moments within Arkansas history, Stockley's account fully incorporates his expertise and a gift for narrative to bring to life one of the most tragic and tumultuous events of Southern history.

Grif Stockley's ability to bring life to this story has much to do with his own background. Born and raised in nearby Mississippi during an era where racial tension was still evident and segregation was the norm, Stockley has an insider's perspective of the events that took place in Elaine. He uses his personal experience and evident knowledge of not only the facts surrounding the case, but the personal and social impressions of Southern whites and African-Americans. Stockley has traditionally been known for his legal thrillers, his collection of stories surrounding the fictional lawyer Gideon Page has become national bestsellers. This narrative on Arkansas history represents his first dive into non-fiction writing. Even within this narrative, his evident knowledge of legal affairs, and the surrounding social and political implications of it's the riot helps to define the scope of the event. As a graduate of the University of Arkansas school of Law, Stockley brings the complete insider's perspective to this particular narrative.

The primary purpose of Stockley's non-fictional work is to capture the moral outrage and accusations surrounding the Elaine Race Riot, and to paint a vivid and memorable impression of the people, places and conflicts that took place during those short but impactful three days. Yet on a deeper level, "Blood in Their Eyes" is a social commentary that looks beyond the events themselves and examines both what preceded the conflict as well as the aftermath. Stockley's particular skill is to place his narrative within the larger frame of Southern social and economic struggles between whites and African-Americans. He explores the social and economic conditions that precipitated the fighting itself, as well as the historical context in which these events occurred. This book has many different layers of content, it is not only a narrative that addresses the history of Arkansas and this particular event, and it also is a deeper dive into the subject of labor relations within the South. Stockley uses his thorough research to document the black activist movement, and places the Elaine Race Riot in the context of the growing movement towards militant and non-militant protests against segregation and race related abuse. At its heart, readers will gain a sense of the intra-racial tensions that boiled to the surface and culminated in the deaths of both whites and African-Americans during these three days of conflict. It is the blending of all of these different themes within Stockley's work that makes it a worthwhile read and invaluable research for anyone interested in African-American history and Southern politics during the early 20th century.

Stockley's account of the Elaine Race Riot uses a blending of primary and secondary sources as well as Stockley's own interpretation of the events that surrounded the riot. For the first time within this publication, readers are presented with the entire story of the Elaine Massacre and what happened to the infamous "Elaine Twelve." There are two primary resources used by Stockley within his books. First, he focuses upon the narrative accounts provided through reports by citizens and police filings during this period. He utilized freshly found personal correspondence and contemporary media coverage to paint fresh details about what really happened during the days and weeks surrounding the massacre. Second, he uses legal briefings and specifically the legal cases filed directly in the wake of the tragedies to reconstruct the event. As a lawyer and his specific connections with the University of Arkansas Law School, he was able to draw upon court records and the expertise of legal theorists on Arkansas state law to provide the full legal implications of the Elaine Massacre. Stockley also relies on a plethora of secondary sources to provide both the context of the Elaine massacre as well as the social, economic and political history surrounding the event. He consulted many taped interviews and prior research into race relations, labor relations and obscure titles on the growth of the African-American presence within the 1910s and 1920s. By blending these two resources, Stockley provides a legal as well as social perspective on why the Elaine massacre occurred as well how such an event impacted the intra-racial relationships between whites and African-Americans.

The basic contention of Stockley's "Blood in Their Eyes" is that the Elaine massacres were rooted in the intra-racial struggles over labor. Elaine is a small city within Arkansas's primarily agricultural-based economic center that relied heavily on black labor for its basic economic provision. The dependence upon black labor meant that the majority of county was black rather than white. The case of wealth centralization meant that a very small population of white farmers owned the vast majority of the land, and kept black farmers in perpetual debt and prevented them from leaving through a combination of intimidation and threats as well as shifty bookkeeping. Stockley explains that changes however, began taking place in 1919 with the rise of greater unionization throughout the country. Black farmers within the area were organized by Robert Hill into the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America, the first black farmers union in existence. It was the threat of mass black unionization that was at the center of the conflict, on the eve of the Elaine Massacre, black farmers were convening to further organize their local chapter of the union.

Stockley's particular brilliance was to capture the legal implications that followed the Elaine Massacre. Even though only three white men were killed as a result of self-defense from African-Americans, twelve men, known as the "Elaine Twelve" were sentenced to death for murder. No whites were even tried for the murder of the numerous African-Americans who died during this conflict. When the Governor of Arkansas heard of the attacks he sent in a total of 500 state troops who arrested hundreds of African-Americans in relation to the massacre rather than apprehending the white racial activists within the area. The ensuing event showed the blatant racism involved in the case, the "Elaine twelve" would stay four years in prison and came dangerously close to execution before a Supreme Court decision granted them reprieve. Although in the final analysis none of the twelve individuals were actually executed, Stockley also explains the legal implications of their sentencing. None of the twelve were actually vindicated; they were granted furloughs instead, which meant that they could be sent back to prison at any time for misconduct.

His narrative reveals many startling revelations that have changed the American perspective on the Elaine Massacres. His research shows that federal troops from Camp Pike were responsible for the death and torture of countless blacks, especially in the days following the riot as national troops attempted to "pacify" the conflict. Stockley argues that as many as 856 African-Americans were killed during the massacre, the majority of them dying at the hands of federal troops. Stockley explains, "the Elaine Massacres were by far the most deadly racial conflict in the history of the United States" (Stockley, xiv). Stockley provides many different sources to prove his claim, including the registration of 103 burial claims made by local black insurance providers in the week's aftermath (Stockley, 53).

Stockley uses a combination of his narrative style and his diligent research to show the context of the massacre and its relationship to American leadership during this era. The ways in which Arkansas's state government, white farmers and power brokers as well as affluent blacks sought to avoid the negative implications of the massacres all helped to bring about a growing death toll and minimizing of real reform in the wake of this tragedy. Through his narrative, we get a real sense of the social and economic investment that the many dominant social groups have made into the social infrastructure of the Southern Jim Crowe territory.

I thought Stockley's account was riveting; he combined a historical non-fiction with the action packed style of a legal thriller. As a result, this book was both highly entertaining and emotionally riveting. It is evident that Stockley did not see this book as merely a story about the Elaine Massacre, but a… READ MORE

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