Grif Stockley grew up during the 1950’s in Arkansas’ Lee County. His father was a doctor and Stockley remembers having black men taking care of his yard when he was younger, and always referring to him as ‘Sir Grif,” even though he had not approached adolescence. Later in life, he became a lawyer. Although he is a lawyer, Stockley has authored several published books—the beginning ones relating to law, and then transitioning to focus on the civil rights movement and race relations within the country. Blood in their Eyes, published in 2001 by the University of Arkansas Press, is an analysis of the race riot that occurred in Phillips County in 1919, which is adjacent to Lee County, with a special analysis of Scipio Jones’ legal involvement, who …show more content…
Stockley writes, “I have a vague recollection of hearing at least once as a teenager from a friend that some ‘niggers’ had been killed during a riot back then, but that was all.” Also, Stockley is not a historian; his experience as a lawyer offers a different perspective on the events, particularly with Scipio Jones. Stockley’s main argument is that the United States Military, specifically troops from Camp Pike, along with the mobs of white men from the area, participated in a massacre of an unknown number of blacks. Although there has been research conducted surrounding the Elaine Race Riots, there is still debate about the exact number of black killed—ranging from 20 to …show more content…
At the beginning of the book, there is also a chronology of events to be used as reference when reading. At the end of the book is an index with all of the sources Stockley used throughout his writing. When reading the introduction and the beginning chapters, there are multiple spelling and word usage errors. This lessens the scholarly merit of the book, because, one would think that a scholarly accepted book would not have simple spelling, grammar, and word usage mistakes; however, this lies in fault with the editor, as it is their job to correct the mistakes in the