By Rene Childress 

Before we continue on our journey in this endeavor to bring continued exposure to the horrible way African-American have been treated in this country, I need to do some attribution in general to all the people that have accumulated and maintained the records that I will be using. They are legion. 

They are the African-American press, the NAACP, Historical Black Colleges and University libraries, the Bilbrew Library in Los Angeles and individuals of all races who saw something untoward that came forward and said something. I am attempting to assuage any concerns about plagiarism. My goal is not self-aggrandizement, it is simply to shine another light on an age-weary problem that we have still not come to grips with.  Any emotional or familial descriptions used in these stories will be my attempt to add humanity to an inhumane episode. Please allow my artistic indulgence. 

During the returning years after the Great War (World War 1) of the last century many African-American returning from service to their country were put upon by angry white mobs. Many whites were concerned that the returning “coloreds” would not remember their station in the racial hierarchy of America. This was especially true in the “Old South”. 

This is the story of Cllinton Briggs, late of Star City,Arkansas. The 1910 Census recorded him as working on a farm owned by Alex Dutton.  Draft records show that Clinton Briggs registered for the draft on June 5,1917. 

He was called up and served until December 17,1918. He was discharged with an” Honorable Discharge”. He was the recipient of the World War 1 Victory Medal and the World War 1 Victory Lapel Button.  Upon returning to the United States he resumed residence in his hometown Star, Arkansas. He returned to working for Alex Dutton (Mr Alex). 

Lincoln county (the county that governs Star City) records show that a Mr Clinton Briggs married a Ms, Cora Goude on March 15, 1919.  Mr. and Mrs. Briggs could not see that their marriage would be short and tragic. If they could have seen into the future would they have made different choices. 

The new Mrs Briggs would carry the unimaginable terror and loss for the rest of her life. Excuse me, I am getting ahead of the story. The four or five months of marriage came to a crashing conclusion on an early September afternoon in downtown Star City. The encounter that would send the Briggs family to unmitigated horror started when Mr Briggs moved out of the way of a white couple walking down the sidewalk. 

The white woman brushed up against Mr Briggs complaining that “Niggers get off the sidewalk down here”. Mr Briggs retorted” this is a free man’s country”. 

The male companion immediately seized him with the help of other bystanders. An automobile  was acquired by the growing mob. He was driven out of town never to be seen alive again. 

His body was later found tied to a tree. His body had been mutilated with several bullet wounds. He had been hung with an automobile chain. 

His newlywed wife would never get to hear the voice of her husband again in this life. They would never grow old together. They would never play with their young children. She would instead carry the scar of this nightmare of the worst thing that could happen to her young life. Cora Briggs calls us from the past to remember her pain. It is the pain that we must remember as a nation as we go forward. Let this pain be a guiding light for how we treat all our citizens.