In the first few decades of the 20th century, racial tensions between white and African-Americans grew once again. At the outbreak of World War I, many African-Americans left Arkansas to work in wartime industries in the North. African-American soldiers served in the armies, but were segregated from their white counterparts. In 1919, a race riot broke out in Elaine in Phillips County. Feeling that many African-American sharecroppers had not received their share of wages, they wanted to join the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America. The white citizens of the town thought the society was trying to persuade the sharecroppers to create violence. In October of 1919, union members met near Elaine under armed guards. Two armed white men - one a deputy sheriff, the other a railroad worker - showed up with guns and a fight ensued. Both men were shot and the railroad worker was killed. For two days, several African-Americans and white citizens of the area were killed in fighting. The fighting ended when Gov. Charles Brough brought in United States soldiers to contain the violence. At the end, 65 African-Americans were brought to trial. Twelve were sentenced to death and the others appealed to higher courts. Scipio Jones, the African-American lawyer from Little Rock, helped to fight for justice for the accused at Elaine. He received help from the newly formed National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). As a result, the rest of the condemned men were set free and the governor brought African-American and white citizens together for discussion on problems between the races. No clear-cut answer was found.
Throughout the Great Depression, African-Americans, as did the rest of the nation, suffered from unemployment and rising poverty. In World War II, African-American men once again found themselves enlisting in a segregated U.S. Army and working for low pay at defense plants. These soldiers who came to Arkansas to train from Northern states experienced segregation in the South firsthand. Many African-Americans began to fight for equality during World War II. Unions were formed to make sure that hiring was not based on race and that government contracts were given to private industries. This resulted in the Fair Employment Practices commission. At this time, the police force in Little Rock also hired its first eight African-American law enforcement officers to reduce racial tensions in the city. The fight for the policemen was led by Daisy Bates and her husband, L.C. They ran the only African-American newspaper, the Arkansas State Press, which is still published today.
Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Little Rock served as an outstanding facility for African-American education in Arkansas. Named for the "Poet Laureate" of the Negro race, Paul Laurence Dunbar, the school was previously named the Negro School of Industrial Arts, a junior-senior high school that offered education and college preparatory courses and trade classes until 1955. African-American students from all over Arkansas were sent to Dunbar to receive a quality education. Today, the school is Dunbar Junior High School and listed on the National Register of Historic Places and a strong alumnus association of former students, teachers and graduates promotes educational, civic and social interests, and preserves the memory of the Dunbar facility.
During World War II, African-American educators in Little Rock requested higher pay. Led by Scipio Jones, the NAACP's Thurgood Marshall and Susie Morris, a teacher at Dunbar High School, fought for equal pay with white teachers in the school district. Arkansas courts ruled against Morris but the U.S. Appeal's Court overturned the ruling in 1945.
