The causes of the Mexican-American War are, surprisingly, still a matter of some debate. Normally, that isn’t true of things that happened 176 years ago. Generally, historians can figure things out after two centuries. But in this case, dispute remains, at least regarding the events immediately preceding the war. And this dispute involves many of […]
Tag: Arkansas
Grace Lorch Helps Elizabeth Eckford
It’s unlikely you’ve heard of Grace Lorch. Unless you are a serious student of Arkansas history, her name likely doesn’t register. But when Grace Lorch helps Elizabeth Eckford in 1957, she changed history. Grace Lorch is a superb example of how regular people, almost unknown today, contributed to the Civil Rights Movement. The main event […]
Racial Exclusivity in Cotter, Arkansas
The idea of racial exclusivity is a simple one. Create racial homogeneity through coordinated and planned action. Just such a program was carried out in Arkansas in the first decade of the 1900s in the town of Cotter. While the events in Cotter lack the outright violence described in my previous posts about Springfield, Illinois, […]
The Polk County Race War of 1896 Arkansas
In my recent post on the Springfield Massacre of 1908, I discussed a disturbing fact of American history. The nation suffered from hundreds of attacks/massacres/eliminations of African Americans in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Yet, most people today know nothing about any of them. So, in this post I’ll relate the story of another, […]
The Springfield Massacre of 1908
When you hear mention of Springfield, Illinois, is the Springfield Massacre the first thing to come to mind? Unlikely. If you are like most people, it’s Abraham Lincoln. What probably doesn’t come to mind is the racial massacre that took place there in 1908. The facts of the Springfield Massacre are these. Two African Americans […]