Sikeston - The Missouri Folklore Society



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.

Another version of how Sunset received its name as told by the interview participants is an inversion of the first: all four participants told me that white people do not go through Sunset anymore, especially after the sun goes down. In fact, most participants said “You know why it’s called Sunset don’t you?[…] because you should never be there after it gets dark”. It seems that while originally it was believed that Sunset was created as a place for blacks to go after they were kicked out of town after dark, in modern day the story is inverted and now it’s a place that whites should not go after dark. In fact it seems the area is almost revered for being poor and dangerous, and Sunset was described by one participant as “vacant lots, a couple of things you’d actually call a house and the rest are shacks. The rest are frame and tar paper. The very definition of dirt poor,” and on a drive through the area it was strongly stressed that the car windows be closed and all doors locked. White Sikeston residents fear Sunset now, as was especially evident when two participants responded with extreme shock upon finding out I had been through the area. Multiple participants claimed that they’d heard that the Sikeston police and fire departments refuse to drive through Sunset for fear that they will be shot or have things thrown at them. While the actual crime rate in Sunset could not be found, it’s possible that this embellishment actually happens or that it’s a localized detail of a standard tale of trespassing of area to which one doesn’t belong.

The two different versions of how Sunset received its name are a form of naming folklore. The stories serve their function well and seem to logically describe why Sunset is called Sunset. Additionally, the second story (in which whites should not go to Sunset) also serves as a cautionary tale, reminding people that Sikeston is still basically segregated, even though its reasoning for Sunset’s name is untrue. If Sikeston were actually known to be a sundown town the first version of Sunset’s naming lore would probably be true. However, the truth behind the lore is not important, but the fact that the lore is still told is very important. It represents a community that probably still believes that segregation should exist and that wants to recognize and remember a violent past, possibly to reinforce racist ideas.

In summary, the folklore told about Sikeston serves several purposes. Being a small, growing town in a relatively turbulent region during the early 1900s ultimately led to violence and the lynching of a black man. While this event achieved international notoriety, it also spawned stories about the event that exhibit stability and variation both amongst themselves and with regards to the account of what really happened. Stories of the lynching are still told seemingly as cautionary tales, but also managed to create naming lore about Sunset. The two different versions of naming lore logically serve their purposes as well as also seeming cautionary and perhaps necessary to remember racist beliefs that may or may not still exist.

References

Blackwell, Sam. Sikeston's history as rich as its swamp-turned-farmland. Southeast Missourian, 2001.

Capeci, Dominic J. The Lynching of Cleo Wright. The University Press of Kentucky, 1998.

“Depot History” The Sikeston Depot Museum. Sikeston Cultural Development Corporation. . Last updated 2008.

Loewen, James W. Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism. The New Press, 2005.

Interview Notes

These are notes that I had originally handwritten while talking to my informants.

Sikeston Stories

“well, the only two that come to mind, and granted, you have to understand that this is a fairly deeply segregated town. The earliest one goes back to the origination of the little community off to the west called Sunset

that’s where all the black folks live at primarily

If you ask somebody how that name was arrived at

They told them that’s where they need to be

Because they’d say “don’t let the sun set on your ass nigger, they’re gonna lynch you” the message being “don’t be in town after sunset”. Now the name is thought of more as (for white folks) “don’t be in that part of town after sunset” or else bad things would happen to you. Even the people that live there call it sunset.”

The other story involves sunset itself and the 1960 election with JFK

And this is in the civil rights movement and all that

And the democrats were all about the civil rights and whatnot

And democrats had a pretty good on the south at that point anyway because of the still anti republic feelings from the war 90 years pervious (civil war). The democrats had such a push to get JFK elected but the area had turned against the democrats because of their involvement with the civil rights movement

To get all the votes possible

The rumor was that they’d pay the people living in sunset 5 dollars and a bottle of wine to come out and vote. Also if they didn’t vote they’d “get the shit beat outta them”.

Grandma connie used to pick cotton and she’d drag jerry (my grandma’s brother) down on a cotton sack while she walked down the rows of cotton. She’d have one bag across her chest (cross body bag) to put the cotton in and dragged her son in the other one on the ground because the ground was so smooth from weeding and tractors going through

To this day sunset is vacant lots, a couple of things youd actually call a house and the rest are shacks. The rest are frame and tar paper. The very definition of dirt poor.

Me: so is everyone in sikeston racist?

D: (sensitive to the subject) now you have to understand that people up north will identiy everything as racist. Just mentioning skin color will get you accused of racism even when you just call someone a “black guy”

“they play that (their race) to get what they want”

mom: I think sikeston is more raacist than other towns that ive known

dad: well yeah its thrown back 15 years from everything

stl is more racist than memphis

white flight – white people moving out when black people move in to an area

the lynching of cleo wright – the last lynching in missouri took place in sikeston in 1942

dad: there you go. Sunset.

Me: are there any actual stories of people being hurt in sunset?

D: not that im aware. I know the polcemen and firemen don’t like going in there

From charles-

Whiskey instead of wine for voting blacks. People (I guess democrats) would pick up the “farmhands” and drive them to every election center in the area. Would end up being more votes than the population but they didn’t regulate that back then. Blacks loved election day because they got to be driven around all day and drink whiskey

“dubious past” – 1960 lynched the last person in mo

-when dad and I told him we drove through sunset, even during the daytime, recently he was extremely surprised we would have done it

derrick- a guy got drug around sikeston (the guy that got hung (cleo wright?))

mom found out that they drug him through the brick streets, beat him, hung him, then burned him

from charles –

arthur bruce was the police chief in the early 60s and lived on the corner of west st. and north st and would patrol the street from his house to the police station and kept all sunset “residents” in sunset

kenney ellison got shot in sunset (whose father murdered a girl then he died in jail) and he died but “apparently he had it comin”

First Draft

Here’s a copy of my first submitted draft. The notes you had written were mostly looking for sources for background information Also that I needed close analysis of the stories told to me and that I shouldn’t let my paper be “an unanalyzed catalog of ugly stuff that people say – think about genres, patterns, purposes.”

Lauren Wessling

ENG 365

Folklore project draft

Sunset and Sikeston

Disclaimer: still needs a lot of work, especially with organization and some focus. I also plan to collect more lore and stories

Main idea: every small town has its own lore, but lore belonging to Sikeston is deeply rooted in racism in the past and present.

Historical Sikeston

In the southeastern bootheel of Missouri there is a city that in1860 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." At that time, most of southeastern Missouri was completely covered in swampland with many large timber trees breaking up the water. After the timber was cleared the land was rendered mostly useless until the Little River Drainage District effectively converted the area into fertile farmland. Once the Cairo and Fulton railroad was completed at its intersection with Kingshighway, Sikeston’s main road, the town became important because of its location. During the Civil War the town’s location was particularly important…[more background historical research (but not too much)]

While Sikeston is a relatively small town it is well known as the midway point on Interstate-55 between the cities of St. Louis and Memphis, and as the original home of Lambert’s, the famous home of “throwed rolls” and fried everything. Sikeston also claims fame in that the first Drury Inn and the first Wal-Mart outside of Arkansas were built there, as well as the annual Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo that always attracts famous musicians.

[possibly insert background on the effect of racism on lore in other cities…]

Sikeston lore/stories (not found in history books or online)

(want to eventually emphasize that this is a product of racism)

Sikeston is“fairly deeply segregated” even in the present day. As such, the division between the black and white populations in the small city have spawned many stories. A previous resident of the area claims that the town is “thrown back 15 years from everything,” and even though the Civil Rights Movement occurred during the 1960s, many parts of Sikeston exhibit a desire for continued sort of segregation between black and white people.

On the western perimeter of Sikeston there exists the area that everyone calls Sunset, where the black population of Sikeston lives, and where black people were supposedly told to go when the sun goes down. Sikeston residents still consider the area “vacant lots, a couple of things you’d actually call a house and the rest are shacks. The rest are frame and tar paper. The very definition of dirt poor.”

The black population of Sunset was so poor that white politicians found a use for them during the 1960 presidential election. The story goes that this was during the Civil Rights Movement and black men had just received the right to vote and democrats soon took advantage of it. While most of the South felt democratic sentiments due to lingering anti-republic feelings left from the Civil War (even though it was 90 years gone) the Sikeston area was still heavily racist and felt opposed to democrats because of their support of the Civil Rights Movement. So, in order to help get John F. Kennedy into office(one story says that) area democrats drove around Sunset, picked up black residents, gave them five dollars and a bottle of wine and drove them to the election center so that they’d vote democrat. The story also claims that if any black men refused they’d “get the shit beat outta them”. Another version of the story claims that the democrats picked up the black farmhands from the Sikeston area on election day, gave each one a bottle of whiskey and drove them to every election center in the area so they could vote democrat multiple times. This worked because voting wasn’t very regulated yet and it didn’t matter if the number of votes for the area exceeded the population.

Another account of the area’s name derivation is that for someone located in downtown Sikeston to view the sun setting on the horizon they’d have to look in the direction of Sunset. Interestingly, the meaning of separation between the white and black people after darkness sets in has sort of been reversed in recent times. Currently, it is said that white people are afraid to go anywhere near the western edge of Sikeston after the sun sets for fear of being killed if they accidentally set foot in Sunset. This fear is even rampant during daylight hours. During a family trip to Sikeston my father wanted to show me Sunset, and while at the time I thought he was joking about making sure the car doors were locked and all the windows were up and to not blatantly stare at anyone this past weekend during an interview with a current Sikeston resident I came to realize that he was very much serious. The interviewee, and an observer, expressed extreme surprise that we would have dared to voyage anywhere near Sunset even at midday. They say that, even now, the police and fire departments avoid the Sunset area and that people throw rocks and bottles at cars driving through. While I am not a Sikeston resident and have never stayed long-term and certainly don’t know as much about the area, the one trip through Sunset showed me that the area was certainly better off than “the definition of dirt-poor”. Sikeston residents have this great fearing lore about Sunset that is further evidenced by that when questioning a large group of residents none could remember any actual act of violence committed on a white person traveling through the area. While it is not important if tales of Sunset are factual, the reasoning behind the fear and the stories themselves and why they are told is probably due to the deeply rooted racism of the area.

Historical event in Sikeston with lore adaptations

However, within not-as-recent history, the small town found notoriety for being the last town in the state of Missouri to hold a public lynching. In 1942, (although one sources swears it was 1960), Cleo Wright was arrested after breaking into and possibly stabbing and/or raping a woman whose husband was overseas. After taking him into custody he was beaten and dragged through the streets of downtown Sikeston (which are still almost all brick) behind a car. He was then either set on fire then hanged, or set on fire while being hanged, depending on who you ask.

This last lynching spawned a more bitter racial divide in Sikeston. Residents say that after Wright’s body was carried away the black population was warned by white residents to never show themselves in the city after the sun goes down. More specifically, the saying was “don’t let the sun set on your ass, nigger, or they’re gonna lynch you”.

Recommendations

From Timothy Thurman:

I really like where your paper is heading. Your topic grasped my attention quickly. You did not say who you interviewed, but you should try to interview a black person from sunset (taking precautions of course). If you could get more stories out of both black and white residents of Sikeston then you will probably come across some variation.

That is really all I had to suggest because once you get more research done your paper will flow.

From Ashley Kleinsorge:

My mom grew up in Montgomery County Missouri in the 60s and has told me stories about towns with signs that said “If your skin is darker than dusk don’t cross this bridge, we will hang you.” If you have a survey or questionnaire I could send it to her. She’s helping me with mine. I also know some history of racism in Springfield MO if that would help you at all.

I’m not sure what year it was but there’s a story about Springfield in which several black men were hanged on the town square and left there. The black population in Springfield had already had enough of the racism so that night the packed up whatever they could carry and left the city in a sort of mass exodus. Springfield is still very racist and is only now starting to build up a black population again due to families moving there from St. Louis- I read an article a couple of summers ago-not on the story-on how the black population was getting bigger in Springfield in the Newsleader so if this is something you might pursue that would be a good place to look.

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