Mike Ives has written an examination of the teaching of race massacres in Arkansas and other states. Brian Mitchell, coauthor of Blood in Their Eyes: The Elaine Massacre of 1919, is featured in the article.
The Elaine massacre of 1919 is believed to be the deadliest episode of racial violence in Arkansas history. But when the historian Brian Mitchell began researching it a few years ago, he met teachers in the state who didn’t know about it or weren’t sure how to explain it to their students.
“Teachers who were having a difficult time talking about difficult histories didn’t know where to start,” he said.
So Professor Mitchell, an expert on African American history at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, helped create a virtual exhibit about the massacre and packed it with teaching materials.