May 11, 1963

Robert Lee Hill, an African American leader who was forced to flee Arkansas during the Elaine Massacre of 1919, died in Topeka, Kansas. As a grand counsellor in the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America, Hill was hidden by friends during the massacre and, with the help of a white family, left Arkansas. Hill was later arrested and jailed in Kansas, but the governor refused to extradite him back to Arkansas. He spent the rest of his life in Topeka, repairing freight cars for the Santa Fe Railway.