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Friday, November 8, 2024 - 1pmThe Eureka Springs Carnegie Public Library and Eureka Springs Historical Museum are pleased to host author Kenneth C. Barnes for a special talk about his fascinating new history book:
"Mob Rule in the Ozarks - The Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad Strike 1921-1923".
Join us in the library's freshly renovated annex meeting space, where the author will discuss his inspirations, experiences, and the forgotten facts he uncovered while researching and assembling his latest historical exposé. This is a free event.
More about the book:
On January 15, 1923, a crowd of more than a thousand angry men assembled in Harrison, Arkansas, near the headquarters of the M&NA Railroad, which ran through Eureka Springs and the heart of the Ozark Mountains. The mob was prepared to use any
measure necessary to end the strike of railroad employees that had dragged on for nearly two years. Supported by local officials, the mob terrorized strikers and sympathizers - many were stripped and beaten, and one man was lynched, hanged from the railroad bridge south of town. Over the next several days, similar riots broke out in other towns along the M&NA line, including Leslie and Heber Springs. This violence effectively brought to a close one of the longest rail strikes in American history - the only one, in fact, ended by a mob uprising.
In 'Mob Rule in the Ozarks', Kenneth C. Barnes documents how the M&NA Railroad strike reflected some of the major economic concerns that preoccupied the United States in the wake of World War I, and created a rupture within communities of the Ozarks that would take years to heal. The conflict also foreshadowed, for
both the region and the country, the pendulum's swing back to moneyed interests, away from Progressive Era gains for labor. Poignantly for Barnes, who sees parallels between this historic struggle and present-day political tensions, the strike revealed the fragile line between civil order and mob rule.
About the Author:
Kenneth C. Barnes is distinguished professor emeritus of history at the University of Central Arkansas. He is the author of 'Who Killed John Clayton?', 'Anti-Catholicism in Arkansas', and 'The Ku Klux Klan in 1920s Arkansas'.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
186 Spring St, Eureka Springs, AR 72632, United States
