After work today, I explored Helena-West Helena. There is sooo much history here. A bloody Civil War battle, a port for natives on the Trail of Tears who were going by boat, a race riot in 1919, and a legacy of once being the richest country in Arkansas.
First stop was Freedom Park. Remains of breast works, earthen fortifications at breast height, remain here where the Arkansas 2nd division of black soldiers held their position against the confederates. Surprisingly, like Ft. Smith, this area was a Union strong hold in 1863. On July 4, the battle raged and the Union defeated the confederates from their four positions and with a gun boat in the Mississippi. The confederate casualties were quite high due to the gun boat raining down artillery on them.
General Grant had the idea to take boats down the Yazou Ricer in an attempt to capture Vicksburg, but this tactic was unsuccessful. The ships ran aground. The Union army had to March east to Vicksburg for ultimate custody. I'll be in Vicksburg in a few days.
This was also a site where native Americans being shipped west came through the port. A ship wreck between tow paddle wheelers resulted in the deaths of about half of the 600 natives being transported in overcrowded conditions.
After WWI, the economy was bad and blacks were trying to organize to get fair pay for their cotton. As share croppers, they had to rely on what the white landowners paid them, which could be based on the previous years lower prices and they held payment so long blacks went I to debt teting to plant for the next year. (This practice was documented in the 1619 Project by Nicole Hannah Jones where black sugar farmers were forced out in a similar way. The largest lawsuit against the USDA was won by black farmers but not in time to save their farms. https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RS20430.html). Blacks had been excluded from voting or holding office due to Jim Crow laws passed after the Covil War that were still in effect.
I toured the Delta Cultural museum which was mostly about the history of the black church in the south and general stores. It was there I learned of the Elaine Massacre and the memorial down the street.
There are two versions of the Elaine Massacre. The whites said the blacks were planning to kill then the blacks said they were attacked for tryng to unionize. The death toll was whites five, blacks unknown. Maybe 100-800. This was during the Red Summer of 1919 when there were racially motivated uprisings around the country.
Helena was the port town originally situated on the Mississippi River and West Helana was a railroad town west of the river built later. They merged in 2006. There is a lot of history of blues singers from this areas and the King Biscuit radio show. However, the town that was once in the richest county in Arkansas has faded badly. The downtown historic area is mostly a line of emory store fronts and dilapidated building in the verge of collapse. I used my gpa to find a restaurant but thought it was closed because the building looked so run down. I needed up at the Que brewery where I had a bbq stuffed potato which was heart attack in a box. The restaurant had the tables and chairs like you see in church basements. The staff was friendly and the food was good but so bare bones. The bbq smoker was in the street outside the restaurant.
I had an eight mile bike road on the river trail to burn off that potato, but that was probably wiped out by the shrimp and grits and Mississippi bourbon I had at Levons when I got back to my air bnb in Clarksdale. I did walk to the restaurant and back. :).
I guess since I was gone most of the day working elsewhere, Buddha decided she needed to share the bed with me tonight. It is nice to have a full kitchen and a non camp shower.
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