I read the Wiki articles on it. It's noteworthy that this started out as an attempt of unionizing by black sharecroppers, who were being cheated by the white landowners. Before then, this state was all about Jim Crow laws, preventing black men from voting, however they could. Difficult for them to register, unable to pay the poll tax in order to vote, etc. That sounds familiar, doesn't it? (Now, in my state, you have to get a certified copy of your birth certificate in order to get a driver's license or vote. It's $15, if you get it in person.)
There were a few white heroes in that story. Granted, there were hundreds of evil rednecks, by comparison. But the S.Ct. came through, when people paid for some of the convicted blacks to appeal. And in the end, the white governor made arrangements with black representatives to release the few remaining ones from prison under cover of night, so they could be taken from the state and not lynched. This was so the next Governor, a KKK official, wouldn't be able to get involved.
A horrible incident.
Then, when this era passed, we enter the era of medical experimentation, and then environmental ruination, as areas of black people are used as dumping grounds for toxic substances. Nearby in Louisiana, an entire community of blacks lost their homes and some their lives, as the area was polluted with toxic substances and nothing done about it.
It's also very telling that some of the code words and practices used at that time are still being used: "socialism," "voting rights," "unionizing," laws creating barriers to voting.
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