May 4, 1927

A wave of mob violence in Little Rock (Pulaski County) culminated in the lynching of an African-American man named John Carter. This lynching, and the rioting that followed, is one of the most notorious incidents of racial violence in the state’s history. Although it would be more than twenty-five years until Little Rock experienced another major episode of racial unrest—the Central High Crisis—the lynching of John Carter left immediate scars on the city’s residents that would not heal for decades.