NEWS RELEASE FROM THE Arkansas Peace & Justice Memorial Movement
CONTACT: Kwami Abdul-Bey
PHONE: 501-442-7377
EMAIL: kwami@APJMM.org
NORTH LITTLE ROCK – In October 1906, two weeks after a race massacre engulfed Atlanta, Georgia, leaving nearly three dozen Black people dead, a similar event occurred here in what is now known as the Historic Argenta Arts District of North Little Rock. Ten people died during the "Argenta Race Riot of 1906," including Homer G. Blackwell, a successful Black entrepreneur, restaurateur and leader in the Black community, who was lynched on the evening of October 7th at the intersection of 6th and Main Streets.
"One hundred and seventeen years after this racialized terror lynching of a clearly innocent Black man by a multitude of persons unknown, we will install an historical marker at the same intersection where this still unsolved crime occurred to memorialize Blackwell's life and his humanity," said Kwami Abdul-Bey, one of the co-founders and co-conveners of the Arkansas Peace & Justice Memorial Movement (APJMM) who recently earned a Professional Graduate Certificate in Restorative Justice from Vermont Law School, "His story may not be one that we can read about in our history books, but it will now be one that we can learn from by reading this prominently placed marker."
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The hybrid historical marker installation ceremony will take place beginning at 10 A.M. CST on Saturday, October 7, 2023, on 6th Street between Main and Maple Streets in downtown North Little Rock, and will be broadcast live on the APJMM Youtube channel (www.youtube.com/@APJMM2019) and the APJMM Facebook page (www.facebook.com/APJMM2019).
Admission is free, but seating is limited to only one hundred participants, so everyone is highly encouraged to register to attend at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/memorializing-the-life-humanity-of-homer-g-blackwell-blackman-tickets-727739567637.
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APJMM is working in partnership with Just Communities of Arkansas (JCA) and the APJMM Pulaski County Community Remembrance Project, and in collaboration with the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), the Central Arkansas chapter of Coming To The Table, and Noose to Needle AR, to host this historical marker installation ceremony publicly acknowledge the reality of the tragic history that led to the violent death of Homer G. Blackwell, a Tennessee native who is believed to have possibly relocated to Argenta with his mother and sister after the 1892 lynching of the three Black male owners of the People's Grocery Store in Memphis. Locally known as Blackman, Blackwell was arrested on the night of October 6th, shortly after his return via train from Lake Village in Chicot County, as reported by the Arkansas Gazette newspaper. The next day, he was forcefully taken around 9:00 P.M. by a group of masked gunmen from the Argenta city jail (now the North Little Rock History Commission headquarters) and lynched on an electric light pole which is believed to have been either in front of Mechanics Lumber Company (now the North Little Rock Tourism headquarters) or Argenta Ice Company (now the Argenta Plaza) then his lynched body was shot at least 50 times by the gunmen who as they stood in front of Stuckey Brothers Grocery (now Argenta Counseling and Wellness), according to a little known published eyewitness account by C.C. Stuckey that Cary Bradbum of the North Little Rock History Commission recently provided to APJMM.
This memorial event comes exactly one month after six Arkansas schools were ordered by state Secretary of Education Jacob Oliva to submit for review the curricula materials for a pilot Advanced Placement (AP) African American Studies after he stated in a letter to the schools that the course may violate Arkansas law. Earlier this year, this same AP course was deemed by the Florida Department of Education to "significantly lack educational value."
"We are not deterred by the current political climate of book bannings and course revocations to hide both state and national history of racialized terrorism against others by the dominant white culture," said Clarice Abdul-Bey, the other APJMM co-founder / co-convener who recently participated in the Cultural Vistas New Transatlantic Synergies: Building a Diverse and Inclusive Culture of Remembrance (DAICOR) reciprocal exchange program that promotes an inclusive and progressive culture of remembrance in public spaces in Germany and the United States. "This memory work has as its goals: (1) the humanizing of those that have been historically marginalized; (2) the deterring of future generations from replicating this history; and (3) the healing of our present generations of descendants of both the victims and the perpetrators of this historical violence that has been largely left out of our history books."
To this end, APJMM has successfully enlisted a cross-section of community voices to speak and present at the Blackwell marker ceremony. North Little Rock Mayor Terry Hartwick will present a proclamation in honor of Blackwell; North Little Rock School District Superintendent will discuss how the current political climate negatively impacts the preparation of tomorrow's community, business, and governmental leaders; both Arkansas Historical Association Board of Trustees President Rachel Patton and Black History Commission of Arkansas Commissioner Elise Hampton will issue public statements discussing the importance of teaching and learning all aspects of Arkansas history without reservation; and State Representative Jamie Scott (a descendant of the North Little Rock Six who unsuccessfully attempted to integrate North Little Rock High School) will speak on the public policy implications of the current political climate.
Other speakers will include: Dr. Jerome Green (Shorter College President and Executive Committee Chairman of the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce), Marie Hollowell (First Vice President of the Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP), Benito Lubazibwa (ReMix I.D.E.A.S. founder), and two Pulaski County high school students who support the teaching of Arkansas Black history. Additionally, there will be performances by musician Joshua Asante and the Writeous Poets. Also during the event, APJMM will also formally launch the 2023 APJMM / EJI Racial Justice High School Essay Contest where any public high school student in Pulaski County can earn up to $5000 in unrestricted postsecondary educational scholarships and officially begin its signature collection drive to get 6th Street renamed Homer G. Blackwell Avenue.
"Once installed, the Blackwell marker will become the third historical marker in the State of Arkansas--the second in Pulaski County--erected since 2020 to memorialize the lives of the 493 known lynching victims in our state which has the third highest number," said Kwami Abdul-Bey, "And, we are already making plans for the fourth marker to be erected in Malvern in 2024, as well as supporting the upcoming 100th year commemmoration of the Catcher Race Riot and Expulsion of 1923 in the Ft. Smith area."
Clarice and Kwami Abdul-Bey will also be featured speakers at the 6th Annual "Lynching in Maryland" Conference on October 14th where they will discuss their ongoing--and thus far failed--efforts to get the Arkansas legislature to create a truth and reconciliation commission modeled after the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and to get the Arkansas governor follow the example of the Maryland governor by posthumously exonerating all of Arkansas' victims of racialized terrorism, starting with the 122 Black men wrongfully convicted after the Elaine Race Massacre of 1919.
https://apjmm.org