It’s been awhile, but it seems only natural to recommend a good book to help us understand these turbulent times. If you have not read it,”White Man‘s Heaven: The Lynching and Expulsion of Blacks in the Southern Ozarks, 1894-1909″ by Kimberly Harper explores the complex racial dynamics of the early twentieth century Ozarks. If you are like us, you might have grown up in Southwest Missouri during a time when there were few, if any, people of color in your community and wondered why. Well, this is why. One reader called it the Ozarks version of “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
You can order a copy at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/White-Mans-Heaven-Expulsion-1894-1909/dp/1557289840
Or visit the University of Arkansas Press’ site: https://www.uapress.com/product/white-mans-heaven/
Thank you so much for running this website, it is so valuable to me to see the place where my great grandfather and great-great grandfather lived! They worked in the mines, and your photos and videos of the mines give me such a good idea of what it might have been like.