Wessling 4
Lauren Wessling
ENG 365
Dr. Davis
12/3/10
Sikeston and Sunset
In 1860 Sikeston was founded by John Sikes upon the declaration "I, John Sikes, am going to start me a town and I am going to call it the Town of Sikeston" (Blackwell). Prior to Sikes the area had just been known as “Big Praire” and most of southeastern Missouri was completely covered in swampland and timber with a ridge coming out of the water where the town was founded (Blackwell). Interestingly, a few years after establishing his town, Sikes was almost hanged by Confederate guerillas in front of his store during the civil war, but was then saved when his wife sent a black slave girl to give the guerillas 100 dollars. After narrowly escaping death once, Sikes was killed a few years later while trying to convince a friend to get on his horse and go home. The man then shot him in the back and was never seen in the area again (Blackwell). Stories of Sikeston’s founder hint at a town full of folklore almost as rich as the farmland that brought it to prominence. The goal of this paper is to explore folk stories told by people in and from Sikeston but, in order to do so, proper background of the small city has to be established.
Until 1872 Sikeson was the terminus for the Cairo and Fulton (later the Missouri-Pacific) railroad and the train was the only means of transport across the vast swampland (Capeci). In the early 1900s a series of dams from the Little River Drainage District project, in combination with timber “barons” and loggers, effectively converted the area (also called “Swampeast” or the “Missouri glades”) into fertile farmland (Capeci). Being on nearly the northernmost edge of the Mississippi Delta, an area characterized by fertile lowlands as well as dramatic humidity, temperatures and rainfall, Sikeston was considered to be part of the agricultural “final frontier” (Capeci). The town experienced much prosperity as farmers and laborers moved to the area and the railroad supplied the rest of the nation with crops from the rich land (Depot History). The Sikeston region became so important to early 20th century agriculture that during World War I the Sikeston Depot shipped more corn and flour than any other depot in the United States (Depot History).
The end of the war and an increase in use of cotton as a crop brought thousands of planters to southeast Missouri from the southern states. Sikeston had no slave history, being a relatively young town, and by the late 1920s had a black population that accounted for nearly 13 percent of total population (Capeci). Being a new town, Sikeston was a society formed from people from all over the nation, and transitioned from “[…] frontier to civilization [and] merged Yankee and southern prejudice” (Capeci). This eventually led to bloodshed in the region between 1890 and 1930 due to the “[…] interplay of a volatile population, pell-mell economic development, and occasional political party rivalries” that “[…] also drew on racist beliefs and a historical context shaped long before 1890” (Capeci). While there are only a few cases recorded of violence in Sikeston itself the surrounding area and rest of Missouri’s bootheel has at least 16 lynching of blacks between 1889 and 1942 (Capeci).
Against a tumultuous backdrop the city of Sikeston, and the black population specifically, continued to grow. Most of the blacks lived on the western edge of town, separated completely from the rest of Sikeston by two crossing railroad tracks, in what was called the Sunset Addition, or simply Sunset. Described as shacks and small houses, Sunset allowed the city to be segregated but also had everything blacks needed to live independently (Capeci; Blackwell). The relationship between blacks and whites in Sikeston in the early 20th century could be described as “strained”, according to Sue Marble. who was born in Sunset in 1928. (Blackwell). Reportedly, "Blacks stayed among themselves and whites did the same. We had everything we needed for our livelihood, and we didn't bother with theirs." Furthermore, to most Sunset residents “[…] Sunset was their turf and Sikeston their city…[They] created a community within a city…[and] preserved much of their folk culture and southern heritage” (Capeci). In general, it seems that while racism and violence may have occurred in this era in Sikeston, a mutual segregation was more prevalent than anything else as “[…] townspeople lived, worked, and played along separate racial lines in a southern caste and class system” (Capeci).
This is the scene in which most of the folklore of Sikeston is set. Following the Great Depression and the beginning of World War II, an already strained Sikeston finally boiled over. Almost a year before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, members of Company K, formed as a National Guard unit in Sikeston, were mobilized, leaving many women home alone to deal with war-time life and children on their own (Capeci). In the middle of the night on January 25, 1942 (shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor), Cleo Wright, a 26 year old black man and Sunset resident, broke into the home of Grace Sturgeon. Sturgeon lived with her young son and sister-in-law while their husbands were deployed for the war, and after breaking in through the bedroom window Wright attempted to slit her throat and managed cut open her abdomen with a six inch knife (Capeci). He then escaped, but was found walking on a nearby street by two police officers and after Wright resisted arrest a small battle ensued (Capeci). One of the police officers was left with a sliced lip, tongue, smashed jaw and teeth after Wright attacked him with a hidden knife (Capeci). Wright faired far worse with four point blank shots fired through his abdomen and several blows to head by a flashlight and a revolver (Capeci). While Wright was treated at the hospital and then put in jail most of Sikeston’s residents had already heard about his attacks, and by 9:00 AM a mob had already started to form outside of City Hall (Capeci). Eventually, Wright admitted to attacking the woman due to some “bad whiskey”, and as word spread through the mob of 400 or 500 people it was not long until the angry mob pushed through law enforcement officers that were guarding the building (Capeci). The mob broke into Wright’s holding room and dragged him out of City Hall and down its steps by his feet so that his head hit each step (Capeci; Blackwell). They then “hooked his legs behind the car bumper” of a waiting maroon sedan before dragging him through the streets of Sikeston on the way to Sunset with the intent to burn him (Capeci). The mob followed in a “parade of cars” as Wright was dragged through several streets in Sunset before finally stopping near the schoolhouse and within view of two churches and the Missouri-Pacific Railroad tracks (Blackwell). A crowd of three to four hundred white residents circled around Wright as he was doused in gasoline and set aflame (Capeci). Wright’s remains were left in the street until the late afternoon when a city dump truck hauled them away (Capeci). People that came to Sunset to view the carnage also witnessed a semi-exodus; about 100 black people, mostly seasonal and migrant workers, left Sikeston permanately that day (Capeci). While there were some black residents of Sunset that prepared for further combat with the lynch mob no further violence occurred after Wright’s death (Capeci).
Sikeston soon became infamous, even internationally, for the events surrounding Wright’s death. A local prosecuting attorney that witnessed the actions of the lynch mob while trying to protect Wright before the mob dragged him from City Hall managed to bring the case to a grand jury but jurors refused to indict anyone for the lynching (Blackwell). The case proceeded to a federal grand jury in Saint Louis and received much media attention as it was the first time the federal government became involved in a civil rights case (Blackwell). In fact, while no indictments were returned and ultimately no one was punished for Wright’s murder, the case was brought before the federal court and set a precedent for all following civil rights cases because lawyers were forced to interpret laws instead of following them by the book (Capeci).
While the historical background of Sikeston can be found rather easily, the background and details about the lynching of Cleo Wright were mostly found in a book called simply “The Lynching of Cleo Wright”. The author, Dominic Capeci Jr., used personal interviews with many of the people present and personally involved in both the crimes by Wright and crimes done to Wright to present a detailed account of the situation. While the crimes were heinous and motives have been broken down and every minute detail of Wright’s life analyzed, the most important thing to remember is that it did happen. While Wright’s motives can be presented relatively simply, the impetus driving the lynch mob most certainly was due to racist traditions. These traditions have motives infinitely harder to dissect. Luckily, the goal of this paper is to examine the lore of Sikeston and its purpose rather than the purpose of racism that drove the murder of Cleo Wright. However, much of the lore of Sikeston is caused by what happened that day, so it was necessary to examine the events from a historical viewpoint.
In order to examine Sikeston folklore interviews were conducted with four willing participants: three men and one woman, two of whom had lived in the Sikeston their entire lives, one was a previous resident and the last a frequent visitor. More interviews were attempted but most people were unwilling to participate, frequently claiming that the stories they knew were “things you don’t need to hear” (this is understandable, considering the subject matter of the stories I did manage to collect and the fact that I appear to be an innocent young girl to most residents there).
Interviews were informal, held mostly at my grandfather’s 75th birthday party, and each participant was asked “Can you tell me any stories about Sikeston?” Each participant had a story about the lynching as well as lore about Sunset.
Participant one told me that Sikeston is “still fairly deeply segregated” and “thrown back 15 years from everything”. They mentioned the lynching of Cleo Wright, but did not know his name or when it occurred other than that it was “pretty recent”. According to them, a black man had done something “bad” and was taken into police custody, then beaten (implying that the police did it) and dragged through all the brick paved streets of downtown Sikeston before being set on fire while being hanged downtown. Participant two knew the story as well but swore the black man was set on fire while being hanged in Sunset. Participant three mentioned that the black man had first raped a woman before being taken into custody, beaten, dragged through the streets while on fire, then hanged. The last participant said the black man had broken into a house, was taken into custody, beaten, dragged through all the streets of Sikeston and then lynched and that this event occurred in 1960.
The four participants’ accounts of Cleo Wright’s death show stability and variation. All four tell of a black man that was arrested, beaten, dragged behind a car through some part of Sikeston and then hanged. Interestingly, the case report on Wright’s death mentions nothing about actually being hanged, but refers to his murder as a lynching (which can mean death by hanging, burning, or shooting and usually in front of a mob) which to most people is probably synonymous with just being hanged. The stories exhibit variation from what “actually happened” and are embellished with the black man being hanged at the end, but most likely only due to a misunderstanding of the word “lynching”. Also, all four versions of the lynching simply refer to Wright as a black man and don’t mention an actual name. None of the stories mention that a mob was involved and most seemed to imply that the local law enforcement almost supported the lynching. Amongst themselves the stories also vary in their account of the order of events: one story claims the man was burned while being dragged around the streets, another claims he was burned in an event by itself and another claims he was burned while being hanged.
There could be several reasons that people still tell the story of Wright’s death, especially as it was always the first story that came to mind when participants were asked about Sikeston lore. While none of the participants mentioned it, the story managed to receive international attention and is an important part of Sikeston’s history and many people probably know that it was an important event and just enjoy telling something local and gruesome. However, the tone the participants used seemed to imply that it was more of a cautionary tale in a sort of “we did this once, we could do it again” way and almost sounded proud to be from or know of a place that had lynched a black man and to be able to localize all the details of it.
Interestingly, while Wright’s murder is treated as lore in Sikeston it also managed to create lore about Sunset. Besides each participants’ account of the lynching they all told stories of how Sunset received its name. There were two different versions of how Sunset received its name told by the participants. One participant claimed that the day Wright was killed the black residents of Sikeston were told “Don’t let the sun set on your ass, nigger, or they’re gonna lynch you,” and that that threat was the reason that blacks moved to their own segregated part of town. Another participant claimed that “back then blacks weren’t supposed to be in town after the sun set,” and that’s why they moved to the edge of town. None of the participants mentioned if white people or black people came up with the name for Sunset first, but historically the area was simply known as Sunset Addition by all parties. Also, Sunset got its full name long before Wright’s murder and it’s said that “There are [people] today who incorrectly but perhaps understandably believe the Sunset Addition got its name that day […]” (Blackwell). In fact, Sunset’s name could be the result of its location: historically and in the present day sprawl of Sikeston, Sunset is the westernmost point of town. Basically, the sun always set over that area, and blacks could have decided to live in a community there on their own, without threats from white folks. However, it is also possible that at one point in time Sikeston was a “sundown town”, or a place where blacks really were told that they weren’t allowed within city limits after dark. Sundown towns arose all across the nation in this same era (1890-1940) after the Civil War and Reconstruction and as race relations grew worse everywhere (Loewen). Official sundown towns usually had a sign posted at their city limits that said something like “Nigger, Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On You In ______” (Loewen). There is a list of possible present day and past sundown towns but it is generally hard to prove if a town is or was ever officially one. In fact, most of the time local historians leave out any sundown policies the town ever had because they don’t want it to reflect poorly on the town and there are even authors that admit that they knew of sundown policies but didn’t want to print them (Loewen). Therefore, it is entirely possible that Sikeston was a sundown town when Sunset was created and that no one knows or will admit that that’s how it received its name.