Ark. town known for ties to KKK tries to rebrand

HARRISON, Ark. (AP) - When a black man supposedly broke into a white man's home in 1905, a mob ran most black people out of tiny Harrison, Ark., and instantly gave the community a lasting reputation as being too dangerous for minorities...

TheGrio Staff

Mar 27, 2012

HARRISON, Ark. (AP) — When a black man supposedly broke into a white man’s home in 1905, a mob ran most black people out of tiny Harrison, Ark., and instantly gave the community a lasting reputation as being too dangerous for minorities.

More than a century later, only 34 of the nearly 13,000 residents in Harrison are black. But the town desperately wants to overcome its past. It hopes a better image will attract more residents and businesses.

City leaders launching wide-ranging diversity efforts, so far with only mixed results.

But Harrison’s tiny black population is actually larger than it used to be. For decades after race riots in 1905 and 1909, fewer than 10 black people lived in the county. Harrison hopes eventually to welcome back descendants of those who fled.