January 28, 1909

A mass exodus of black citizens from Harrison (Boone County) occurred during the night. African Americans in town had been threatened by the continued presence of mobs following the arrest and conviction of Charles Stinnett, who had been charged with raping Emma Lovett, a white woman. Only one black person, Alecta Caldonia Melvinia Smith, who was called “Aunt Vine,” remained in Harrison after others fled, thus leaving it essentially an all-white town.