Labor Violence Turns Into Racial Violence In Arkansas Causing Black Exodus

Even though the White laborers had suspicions and even dislike of European immigrants there was one thing they could agree upon; they hated the Black workers who were also working for the Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and Gulf Railway. The railroad was building a line in Polk and Sevier County in Arkansas. When a group of approximately 30 Black laborers arrived to begin work on Aug 5th, 1896 they were attacked by a group of White laborers with the tools being used for the railroad.

Of the 30, three were killed, another eight were severely injured, and all were forced into railroad cars and out of Polk County. Soon reports began to trickle out of Polk County regarding the incident and citizens of the county didn’t deny it. They celebrated the incident and the violence. A quote, unattributed, appeared in several stories stating, “The natives have served notice that Sambo must move on, as it is against their religion to permit them to desecrate their soil with pick and shovel or otherwise.”

What is critical to understand is that Italian, Hungarian, and Swedish immigrants took part in this violence and forced Negros out of Polk County, immigrants that otherwise would themselves face prejudice for their skin tone and religion. However as both a labor attack and a racial one workers for the railroad and other Polk County companies such as the Canfield lumber mill and Hawthorne Mills. The fierce labor competition allowed racial extremists to manipulate emotions and rally mobs even to the point that both local law enforcement and the railroad bulls didn’t have an opportunity to stop the mob from driving the Black workers away.

The town of Mena, the county seat, became what was known as a “Sundown Town” at this time with posted warnings that anyone of Negro ancestry must be out of town and out of Polk County by the time the sun went down. This practice lasted well into the 1940s in many Arkansas locations. 

Sources:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/23188017?read-now=1&seq=5#page_scan_tab_contents

https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/polk-county-race-war-of-1896-7390/