calsfoundation@cals.org
January 14, 1925
Governor Thomas McRae signed indefinite furloughs for the Moore defendants, six of the twelve African-American men convicted of murder and sentenced to die for their supposed role in what is known today as the Elaine Massacre. Though not pardons, these furloughs did free the men, who had been imprisoned since 1919. The Elaine Massacre was by far the deadliest racial confrontation in Arkansas history and possibly the bloodiest racial conflict in the history of the United States.