Civil War to Gilded Age

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African-American children and faculty standing outside single-story brick building
American Missionary Association
The American Missionary Association (AMA) was a nondenominational abolitionist society dedicated to providing ...
"Helena. The Murderer of Constable Blount Killed by a Posse" newspaper clipping
Wyatt Ames (Lynching of)
On October 15 or 16, 1883, an African-American man named Wyatt Ames was shot to death near Lexington (some rep...
"Short Shrift. A Negro outrages a white lady in Pine Bluff" newspaper clipping
James Anderson (Lynching of)
On December 5, 1880 (one source gives the date as December 4), an African American man named James Anderson wa...
"Act 320 makes cohabitation between the white and Negro races a felony punishable with not less than one month nor more than one year in the penitentiary" newspaper clipping
Anti-miscegenation Laws
Anti-miscegenation laws were edicts that made it unlawful for African Americans and white people to marry or e...
"Triple Lynch" newspaper clipping
Arkadelphia Lynching of 1879
aka: Lynching of Daniels Family
In late January 1879, Ben Daniels and two of his sons—who were ac...
"Lawless Negroes" newspaper clipping
Atkins Race War of 1897
What most newspapers described as the “Atkins Race War” occurred in Lee Township of Pope County in late Ma...
Jerry Atkins (Lynching of)
Jerry Atkins, a black man, was murdered in Union County on November 21, 1865, for having allegedly murdered tw...
"State News" newspaper clipping
Wash Atkinson (Lynching of)
On December 6, 1877, an African-American man named Wash Atkinson was hanged by a mob in Arkadelphia (Clark Cou...
Crowd of people gathered at boat dock and aboard a ship with horse-drawn cart in the foreground
Back-to-Africa Movement
The Back-to-Africa Movement mobilized thousands of African-American Arkansans who wished to leave the state fo...
"Beebe's Black Brute" newspaper article
James Bailey (Lynching of)
On July 9, 1891, James Bailey was hanged from a railroad crossing sign in Beebe (White County) for allegedly a...
"Ashley County Mob" newspaper clipping
Eugene Baker (Lynching of)
On July 30, 1892, Eugene Baker (sometimes referred to as Dan Baker), who allegedly murdered a white man in Ash...
"Negro murderer burned at stake" newspaper clipping
Glenco Bays (Lynching of)
On February 18, 1904, Glenco Bays was burned at the stake near Crossett (Ashley County) for the murder of J. D...
"The Bloody Mob and Its Victims" newspaper clipping
Bearden Lynching of 1893
On May 9, 1893, three African Americans were lynched in Bearden (Ouachita County) for what was called a “mur...
"A Black Brute Lynched" newspaper clipping
William and Henry Beavers (Lynchings of)
In 1890 and 1892, brothers William and Henry Beavers—both African American—were lynched near Warren (Bradl...
"Rope route" newspaper clipping
Peter Berryman (Lynching of)
On February 20, 1901, Peter Berryman (regularly referred to as “Nigger Pete” in newspaper articles) was ly...
"A tale of horror" newspaper clipping
Lynching of the Biscoe Family
In early February 1892, Hamp Biscoe (or Bisco), his pregnant wife, and his thirteen-year-old son were killed i...
Portrait white man balding stern expression three piece suit tie seated on carved wooden chair
Black Hawk War of 1872
The Black Hawk War was a Reconstruction-era political and racial conflict in Mississippi County that occurred ...
African-American soldiers being greeted by a crowd of African-American women and children
Black Union Troops
aka: African American Union Troops
aka: United States Colored Troops
Many former African American slaves and freedmen from Arkansas ans...
Pickens W. Black Sr. (1861?–1955)
Pickens W. Black Sr. was one of the most remarkable African-American agriculturalists in northeast Arkansas in...
West Bogan (Trial of)
Bound in slavery on a cotton farm near Helena (Phillips County), West Bogan fought and killed his subjugator...
Bowles (Lynching of)
Sometime around August 22, 1892, an African-American man identified only by his surname, which was Bowles, was...
"The rape fiend who was lynched by the people" newspaper clipping
Charley Branch (Lynching of)
On December 26, 1882, Charley Branch (sometimes referred to as Charles, Charlie, or Charles B. Branch) was lyn...
"Killing at Raggio" newspaper clipping
Brodie (Lynching of)
On May 16, 1900, an African American named James (Jim) or John Brodie—accounts differ—was killed near Ragg...
Brooks (Lynching of)
In some cases, conflicting newspaper accounts make it difficult to identify the actual victim of a lynching, a...
Fountain Brown (1806?–1865?)
Fountain Brown was a Methodist preacher who was the first person to be charged and found guilty of violating t...
"All on one limb" newspaper clipping
Butlerville Lynching of 1882
On June 1, 1882, three African Americans named Joseph Earl, Taylor Washington, and Thomas Humphreys were hange...
"Double Lynching" newspaper clipping
Will Caldwell and John Thomas (Lynching of)
aka: John Thomas and Will Caldwell (Lynching of)
On September 10, 1895, an African-American man named Will Caldwell ...
"Twenty Negroes Wounded" newspaper clipping
Canfield Race War of 1896
On Saturday, December 12, 1896, African American workers at the Canfield Lumber Company in the small lumber to...
"Lynched Him" newspaper clipping
Henry Capus (Lynching of)
Henry Capus, an African-American man, was lynched in late June 1894 in Columbia County. The reports regarding ...
Allen Carter (Lynching of)
Sometime during the first week of August 1892, an African-American man named Allen Carter was lynched at Wynne...
"What the mob of Chicot County did" newspaper clipping
Chicot County Race War of 1871
aka: Chicot County Massacre
In late 1871, Chicot County was taken over by several hundred Afric...
"Four dead" newspaper clipping
Clarendon Lynching of 1898
On August 9, 1898, Manse (or Manze) Castle, Will Sanders (Saunders), Sanders’s mother Lorilla (Rilla) Weaver...