Scipio Jones' Brief to the Supreme Court Regarding the Elaine Twelve

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Collection:: Land of (Unequal) Opportunity: Documenting the Civil Rights Struggle in Arkansas
Title:: Scipio Jones' Brief to the Supreme Court Regarding the Elaine Twelve
Publisher:: Fayetteville, Ark. : University of Arkansas Libraries
Date of Original:: 1921
Subject:: African Americans--Arkansas
Civil rights--Arkansas
Race discrimination--Arkansas
Segregation--Arkansas
People:: Jones, Scipio Africanus, 1863-1943
Location:: United States, Arkansas, 34.75037, -92.50044
Medium:: resolutions (administrative records)
Type:: Text
Format:: application/pdf
Description:: Scipio Jones, a prominent African-American attorney from Little Rock, represented the twelve men convicted for their supposed involvment in the Elaine Race Massacre in 1919. Jones wrote this brief, entitled "Arkansas Peons" and published in the NAACP's magazine The Crisis in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court's review of the case.
Elaine Race Massacre -- Elaine Race Riot -- Elaine Twelve -- Elaine -- Phillips
been done in discrimination against the Negro race, on account of their color; that such has been the unbroken practice in Phillips County for more than thirty years, not withstanding the Negro population in said county exceeds the white population by more than five to one, and that a large proportion of them are electors and possess the legal, moral and intellectual qualifications required or necessary for such jurors; that the exclusion of said Negroes from the juries was, at all times, intentional and because of their color, of their being Negroes; that such was the case on the grand jury by which petitioners were indicted, and of the petit jury that pronounced them guilty; that under the law of Arkansas, as construed by the Supreme Court of the State, an objection to an indictment on the ground that it was found by a grand jury composed only of white men to the exclusion of Negroes on account of their color, must be made at the impaneling of the grand jury and objection to the petit jury must be made at the impanelling [sic] of the grand jury and objection to the petit jury must be made before a plea is entered to the indictment; that at the time said indictment was found petitioners were confined in jail and did not know the grand jury had been organized, did not know it was in session, did not know they were to be indicted for the killing of said Lee or any other person and did not know they were charged therewith; that it was impossible for them to make any objection to the organization of said grand jury for the very simple reason that they were closely confined, had no attorney, and no opportunity to employ an attorney; that at their trial, counsel appointed to defend them made no objection to the petit jury or to any previous proceeding; that their failure to do so was through fear of the mob for petitioners and himself, as they believe. Petitioners further say that after their conviction and sentence to death, their friends employed other counsel to represent them; that through such counsel they filed a motion for a new trail, which was promptly overruled and an appeal was taken to the Supreme Court of Arkansas, the highest court in said State, where, on the 29th day of March, 1920, the judgment of the Phillips Circuit Court was affirmed; that thereafter they applied to the Supreme Court of the United States for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of Arkansas, praying that said court be required to send up the record and proceeding in said cause for review by the Supreme Court of the United States, but that on the 11th day of October, 1920, the application for said writ was denied; that the Governor of the State of Arkansas did on the --- day of August, 1921, issue a proclamation carrying into effect the judgment and sentence of the Phillips Circuit Court against petitioners and in which he fixed Sept. 23, 1921, as the date of their execution. Petitioners further say that on the 19th day of October, 1920, the Richard L. Kitchens Post of the American Legion of Helena, Arkansas, an organization composed of approximately three hundred white ex-service men living in every part of Phillips County, passed a resolution calling on the Governor of the State of Arkansas, for the execution by death of petitioners and the seven other Negroes condemned to death by said Circuit Court at the same time and under the same circumstances as petitioners, and protesting against the commutation of the death sentence of any of said Negroes, which said Resolution was presented to the then Governor of Arkansas; that at a meeting of the Rotary Club of Helena, Arkansas, attended by seventy-five members, representing as many leading industrial and commercial enterprises of said city, and of the Lions Club of said city, attended by sixty-five members, representing as many of the same kind of enterprises of said city each adopted a resolution approving the action of the Richard L. Kitchens Post of the American Legion in the premises, which said resolutions were presented to the then Governor of the State of Arkansas; that said resolutions further and conclusively show the existence of the mob spirit prevalent among all the white people of Phillips County at the time petitioners and the other defendants were put through the form of trials and show that the only reason the mob stayed its hand, the only reason they were not lynched was that the leading citizens of the community made a solemn promise to the mob that they should be executed in the form of law. Petitioners further say that to further show the overwhelming existence of the mob spirit and mob domination of their and other trials of Negro defendants at the October term, 1919, of the Phillips Circuit Court, there were six defendants convicted of murder in the first degree, to wit: John Martin, Alf Banks, Will Wordlow, Albert Giles, Joe Fox and Ed. Ware, whose cases were also appealed to the Supreme Court of Arkansas which were reversed on account of bad verdicts, due to the extreme haste in securing convictions and executions
Metadata URL:: http://digitalcollections.uark.edu/cdm/ref/collection/Civilrights/id/1672
IIIF manifest:: https://digitalcollections.uark.edu/iiif/2/Civilrights:1672/manifest.json
Additional Rights Information:: Please contact Special Collections for information on copyright.
Contributing Institution:: University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Libraries
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