White Man's Heaven

by Harper, Kimberly

• ISBN13: 9781557289414
• ISBN10: 1557289417
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-10-01
• Publisher: Univ of Arkansas Pr

Summary

Drawing on court records, newspaper accounts, penitentiary records, letters, and diaries, White Man's Heaven is a thorough investigation into the lynching and expulsion of African Americans in the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Kimberly Harper explores events in the towns of Monett, Pierce City, Joplin, and Springfield, Missouri, and Harrison, Arkansas, to show how post-Civil War vigilantism, an established tradition of extralegal violence, and the rapid political, economic, and social change of the New South era happened independently but were also part of a larger, interconnected regional experience. Even though some whites, especially in Joplin and Springfield, tried to stop the violence and bring the lynchers to justice, many African Americans fled the Ozarks, leaving only a resilient few behind and forever changing the racial composition of the region.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. xv
Pierce City: "We Were Once Slaves"	p. 1
Pierce City: "White Man's Heaven"	p. 19
Pierce City: The Lark and Godley Trials	p. 45
Joplin: "Have Mercy on My Soul"	p. 69
Joplin: "Hurrah for Hickory Bill"	p. 103
Springfield: "The Devil Was Just as Good a Friend to God"	p. 109
Springfield: "A Slumbering Volcano"	p. 125
Springfield: "The Easter Offering"	p. 143
Springfield: "They Certainly Had Not the Bearing of Deacons"	p. 161
Springfield: "Murder in the Air"	p. 193
Harrison: "Their Voices Filled the Air"	p. 235
Conclusion	p. 251
Notes	p. 257
Bibliography	p. 303
Index	p. 317
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