Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index The Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America was a union of African-American tenant farmers (sharecroppers). A meeting of this union at Elaine, Arkansas was attacked on 1 October 1919 sparking the famous Elaine Race Riot. The Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America was formed by Robert L. Hill of Winchester, Arkansas, a black tenant farmer. The union had several lodges in the Elaine, Arkansas area. In late 1919 the union organized resistance amongst blacks in the Elaine area including withholding black women's services to whites and insisting on higher wages for the cotton pickers. The union had also hired lawyers at the state capital and planned to sue landlords for shares allegedly withheld from them. Robert L. Hill escaped to the state of Kansas. He was arrested in that state but was never extradited to Arkansas to face charges. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.