J. Chester Johnson discusses the Elaine race massacre. (5/26/20)
The 1919 Elaine race massacre, despite possibly being the worst race riot in our country’s history, has been widely unknown for the better part of a century. In 2008, when the Episcopal Church formally apologized for its role in transatlantic slavery and related evils, J. Chester Johnson was asked to write the Litany of Offense and Apology for what was to be a National Day of Repentance. In his research, Johnson came upon a treatise by historian and anti-lynching advocate Ida B. Wells on the Elaine massacre, where more than 100 (and possibly hundreds) of African-American men, women and children perished at the hands of white posses, vigilantes and federal troops in rural Phillips County, Arkansas. His new book “Damaged Heritage: The Elaine Race Massacre and A Story of Reconciliation” not only investigates what happened in Phillips County on that terrible day but examines the ways that the past is still with us. Join us for the untold story of the Elaine Race Massacre in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.