April 21, 1888

The Arkansas Gazette published a letter from a Black resident of Paragould (Greene County), reading, in part, “I am disgusted the way I am served, and also my friends. We are but a few colored people here in Paragould, and the white people are very cruel to all. They are now coming every night shooting upon houses and throwing rocks upon our houses every night.” This was one of the first recorded instances of whites rioting against African Americans in Paragould, and such violence would sporadically break out well into the early twentieth century.