Black and White: Land, Labor, and Politics in the SouthFortune, Timothy Thomas
History
Black and White: Land, Labor, and Politics in the South
Fortune, Timothy Thomas
African Americans -- Southern States; Southern States -- Economic conditions; United States -- Race relations
County, thinking the people there were going to be
massacred. A great many of our people had to run away from
their homes for several days; but we took the ground that we
would let the thing take its natural course. As soon as
things quieted down, which they did so partially in three or
four days, some of our gentlemen who had gone off with their
families returned, and it resulted in our arresting a few of
the ringleaders in the county. The courts and the
administration were all at that time in the hands of persons
not identified with the interests of the county, and it was
impossible for us to get justice meted out. We saved a
massacre of the negroes of the county, but we never could
bring those men to any kind of punishment before the courts,
and finally we came to a compromise with them, that if they
would leave the county we would withdraw the suit against
them, and that was the way the thing was ended. Now, I do
not believe you could get up a riot in Chicot County because
I think there are many intelligent negroes there who would
not permit it. Those are the kind of race issues that I
referred to. Relieve us of that sort of thing, and leave our
government to ourselves and our people, and give to the
negro the same protection the white man has, but do not give
him any more. Do not let him feel that he has the United
States Government standing behind him, and that he is the
child of the United States Government to be taken care of,
but that he must rely on his own resources and energy for
his living, and time will solve the question, and the demand
for his labor will protect him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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