1. Harrison, Arkansas
"The reasoning behind the flags is
historical. They were put up to say
'Here is the five governments that
have governed this particular area.'
And it's the Spanish flag, the French
flag, the United States flag and the
Confederate flag. Because that was
all the different parts. It is not meant
as a slap or a sign that says 'You are
not welcome here.'"
—Layne Wheeler, director, Harrison
Chamber of Commerce
According to historian James Loewen in his book Sundown
Towns (New Press, 2005), “In late September of 1905, a
white mob stormed the jail, carried several black prisoners
outside the town, whipped them and ordered them to leave.
The rioters then swept through Harrison’s black
neighborhood, tying men to trees and whipping them,
burning several homes and warning all African Americans to
leave that night. Most fled without any belongings. Three or
four wealthy white families sheltered servants who stayed
on, but in 1909, another mob tried to lynch a black prisoner. Fearing for their lives, most
remaining African Americans left. Harrison remained a ‘sundown town,’ [i.e., a place
that threatened, ‘N*****, don’t let the sun go down on you here’] until at least 2002.”
The violence in Harrison caused black residents in neighboring communities to flee the
area as well. In the 1900 Census, the black community in Harrison numbered 115 people
in a town of 1,500. Less than ten years later, that community was gone. Today, Harrison
is home to just over 12,000 residents, more than 97 percent of them white. Fewer than 40
African Americans live in Boone County, of which Harrison is the county seat, out of a
total population of 34,000.
Harrison has only recently been forced to confront its legacy
of racism. In 2003, a football coach wrote an angry letter to
the local newspaper after his nine-year-old players were
harassed with racial slurs at a game in Harrison, igniting a
firestorm of debate. A group of town leaders formed the
Community Task Force on Race Relations, with the mission to
“respond to an inaccurate, negative image, namely that
Harrison is a racist community.” Their actions have included
filming a public service announcement about the perceptions of Harrison and taking out a
two-page ad in the Harrison Daily Times in response to a racist letter to the editor.
In a symbolic act of apology to a black church destroyed in the 1905 expulsion, Harrison
citizens have traveled several hundred miles to offer an AME church their assistance.
Church leaders have also repented for the town’s past in a prayer ceremony. As part of an
effort to promote healing, the town created a college scholarship for black students
named after Aunt Vine, a prominent member of the original African American
community. Although she was buried in Harrison, her grave is unmarked.

2. The Ku Klux Klan
Despite these actions, the underlying problem of systematic
racism remains a part of Harrison’s local culture. A faction
of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), the notorious white supremacy
group, has its headquarters in town. Led by Thom Robb, the
Harrison-based Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is the largest
and most active Klan unit operating in the U.S. today.
Although its membership has declined following various
defections and schisms in the 1990s, the Knights currently
have an active membership of about 500 people, and hold regular activities in the area
championing “the rights of white Christians.”
The Confederate Flag
A Confederate flag flies outside the Harrison Chamber of
Commerce as well, and the town square boasts a monument to
the Sons of the Confederacy. In BANISHED, Layne Wheeler
of the Chamber of Commerce claims that the flag’s display is
a historical one, and not a symbol of racism. To some
Southerners, the flag remains an icon of regional pride, while
to others, it is a symbol of bigotry and a Confederacy that
supported slavery. The NAACP (National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People) organized a national
economic boycott against state tourism in South Carolina for
refusing to remove the flag from its statehouse, which other
Southern states had done. In 2000, the flag was removed from
the statehouse, but placed instead on the Capitol lawn. The flag persists as a contested
issue nationwide.