Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America
Encyclopedia
The Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America was a union of African-American tenant farmer
s (sharecroppers). A meeting of this union at Hoop Spur, Arkansas, was attacked on September 30, 1919, leaving a white sheriff dead and sparking the famous Elaine Race Riot
.
The Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America was formed by Robert L. Hill
of Winchester, Akansas, a black tenant farmer. The union had several lodges in the Elaine, Arkansas
area. In late 1919 the union organized resistance amongst blacks in the Elaine area, including withholding black women's services to whites and insisting on higher wages for the cotton pickers. The union had also hired lawyers at the state capital and planned to sue landlords for shares allegedly withheld from them.
The union was, however, destroyed by the repression that followed the shooting on September 30. The Governor of Arkansas, Charles Hillman Brough
, led a detachment of federal troops into Phillips County, arresting hundreds of blacks and allowing other blacks to move about in public only if they had a pass signed by military authorities and attested by a reputable white citizen. In the week after the shooting roving bands of whites and federal troops killed upwards of two hundred blacks.
In the aftermath of the violence, a grand jury made up of local landlords and merchants decided who would be indicted. Those blacks willing to testify against others and who agreed to work on whatever terms their landlords set for them were let go; those who had been labeled ringleaders or who were judged unreliable were indicted. According to the affidavits later supplied by the defendants, many of the prisoners had been beaten, whipped or tortured by electric shocks to extract testimony or confessions and threatened with death if they later recanted their testimony.
Robert L. Hill escaped to the state of Kansas
. He was arrested in that state but was never extradited to Arkansas to face charges. Other members of the organization were tried for murder in connection with the violence that followed the attack on the union meeting. Their convictions, obtained by use of testimony obtained by beatings and torture through electric shock, in a trial atmosphere dominated by mobs of armed whites milling around the courthouse, were eventually reversed by the United States Supreme Court in Moore v. Dempsey
. That victory helped boost the prestige of the NAACP and of its later leader, Walter F. White.
Tenant farmer
A tenant farmer is one who resides on and farms land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management; while tenant farmers contribute their labor along with at times varying...
s (sharecroppers). A meeting of this union at Hoop Spur, Arkansas, was attacked on September 30, 1919, leaving a white sheriff dead and sparking the famous Elaine Race Riot
Elaine Race Riot
The Elaine Race Riot, also called the Elaine Massacre, occurred September 30, 1919 in the town of Elaine in Phillips County, Arkansas, in the Arkansas Delta, where sharecropping by African American farmers was prevalent on plantations of white landowners.Approximately 100 African American farmers,...
.
The Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America was formed by Robert L. Hill
Robert L. Hill
Robert Lee Hill was an African American sharecropper from eastern Arkansas and founder of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America....
of Winchester, Akansas, a black tenant farmer. The union had several lodges in the Elaine, Arkansas
Elaine, Arkansas
Elaine is a city in Phillips County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 865 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Elaine is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....
area. In late 1919 the union organized resistance amongst blacks in the Elaine area, including withholding black women's services to whites and insisting on higher wages for the cotton pickers. The union had also hired lawyers at the state capital and planned to sue landlords for shares allegedly withheld from them.
The union was, however, destroyed by the repression that followed the shooting on September 30. The Governor of Arkansas, Charles Hillman Brough
Charles Hillman Brough
Charles Hillman Brough was the 25th Governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas from 1917 to 1921.Charles Brough was born in Clinton, Mississippi. In 1894, he graduated from Mississippi College in Clinton. He earned his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University in 1898, and graduated from the law school at the...
, led a detachment of federal troops into Phillips County, arresting hundreds of blacks and allowing other blacks to move about in public only if they had a pass signed by military authorities and attested by a reputable white citizen. In the week after the shooting roving bands of whites and federal troops killed upwards of two hundred blacks.
In the aftermath of the violence, a grand jury made up of local landlords and merchants decided who would be indicted. Those blacks willing to testify against others and who agreed to work on whatever terms their landlords set for them were let go; those who had been labeled ringleaders or who were judged unreliable were indicted. According to the affidavits later supplied by the defendants, many of the prisoners had been beaten, whipped or tortured by electric shocks to extract testimony or confessions and threatened with death if they later recanted their testimony.
Robert L. Hill escaped to the state of Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
. He was arrested in that state but was never extradited to Arkansas to face charges. Other members of the organization were tried for murder in connection with the violence that followed the attack on the union meeting. Their convictions, obtained by use of testimony obtained by beatings and torture through electric shock, in a trial atmosphere dominated by mobs of armed whites milling around the courthouse, were eventually reversed by the United States Supreme Court in Moore v. Dempsey
Moore v. Dempsey
Moore et al. v. Dempsey, , was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled 6-2 that the defendants' mob-dominated trials deprived them of due process guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and reversed the district court's decision declining the...
. That victory helped boost the prestige of the NAACP and of its later leader, Walter F. White.