The Second American Civil War: Red Summer (1917-1923)

The spring, summer, and fall of 1919 were collectively known as the Red Summer. During that time, race riots exploded across both the Northern and Southern United States. By far the most violent and deadliest episode occurred in Elaine, Arkansas.

On September 30, a small group of black men and women gathered at a church in Phillips County to organize a sharecroppers' and tenant farmers' union known as the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America. Shots were fired when two white law-enforcement officers arrived at the church, one later claiming they were looking for a bootlegger, shots were exchanged, killing one officer and wounding the other. When word of the shootings spread throughout the county one white officer was killed and the other wounded. As word of the shootings spread throughout the county, the local sheriff sent out a call for white men in Arkansas and Mississippi "to hunt Mr. N*gger in his lair." Hundreds of armed men jumped into trains, trucks, and cars crossed into Arkansas from Mississippi, firing at every black they saw, some even considering it target practice. The massacre lasted until October 3 when soldiers from the United States Army attempted to restore order. Government sources cite between 100 and 237 blacks dead along with five whites, their bodies dumped in the Mississippi River or left to rot in the canebrake.

In the upcoming days, race riots in cities nationwide sprung up, larger in size and more numerous than ever before, lasting roughly a month. Not only African-Americans were targeted but this time Southern and Eastern European immigrants were too.

On October 31, 1919, the all-white Phillips County (Arkansas) grand jury charged 122 African Americans with crimes ranging from murder to nightriding. The trials began the next week. On November 5, 1919, the first twelve black men given trials had been convicted of murder and given the death penalty via the electric chair. These men became known as the Elaine Twelve. The NAACP then assembled an emergency meeting at its headquarters in New York City. It was becoming clear that the future of American-Americans of United States was becoming bleak. Their agenda centered around ending lynchings and other acts of murder and terrorism against blacks via challenging the legal system, but after the Elaine Riots it seemed as though the law had failed them then more than ever and the law would never be on their side. Inspired by Benjamin "Pap" Singleton, they concluded that the best solution would be to establish African-American exclusive colonies in rural areas throughout the country, particularly in the sparsely settled West. After a certain amount of item, independence would be declared.

As soon as word spread to the public, race riots intensified to the point of warfare with dozens of blacks and whites each massacred. Settlement began in earnest in March of 1920. Unlike earlier iterations, these colonies were militant and armed to the teeth. White anger erupted once more and both sides broke into warfare unlike anything else ever seen before. Many colonies were destroyed in the process. The deadliest battles took place on the Texas Frontier, near the towns of Snyder and Humble on the opposite ends of the state. Despite the bloodshed and white destruction of these colonies, most blacks refused to surrender, with military intervention from the US National Guard often involved. In fact, the passage of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, in August of 1920 only made them more determined. It was not for another six months, under President Warren G. Harding, after in which all wars and rebellions were ceased and black colonists were either imprisoned or forcibly marched home. Government spending to crush the rebellion from November 1919 to February 1921 worsened the ongoing economic Depression of the United States to the point recovery would not be complete until June of 1922.

Much of the liberties earned by minorities were lost as white supremacist officials on a local and state level were elected throughout the entire country up to the 1924 presidential election. The grandfather clause was reinstated. Poll taxes increased drastically, with states that did not have them before instating them for the first time. Literacy tests were manipulated so that virtually no immigrant or African-American would be able to vote. The White House, under the Harding and later Coolidge administration, did little to actively suppress the rights of minorities. It was too focused on lifting the United States out of the Great Recession until 1922 and keeping the newfound prosperity of the Roaring Twenties alive afterward.

Everything began to change with the 1924 presidential election, however. The favored candidate, William McAdoo of California, won the Democratic nomination largely in part of not disavowing the Ku Klux Klan who then, in turn, endorsed him. His vice presidential nominee was John Box of Texas.