Basic Information
- Type of Place
- Independent City or Town
- Metro Area
- Politics c. 1860?
- Don’t Know
- Unions, Organized Labor?
- Strong
Sundown Town Status
- Sundown Town in the Past?
- Surely
- Was there an ordinance?
- Don't Know
- Sign?
- Don’t Know
- Year of Greatest Interest
- 1904
- Still Sundown?
- Probably
Census Information
| Total | White | Black | Asian | Native | Hispanic | Other | BHshld | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | ||||||||
| 1870 | ||||||||
| 1880 | ||||||||
| 1890 | ||||||||
| 1900 | ||||||||
| 1910 | ||||||||
| 1920 | ||||||||
| 1930 | ||||||||
| 1940 | ||||||||
| 1950 | ||||||||
| 1960 | ||||||||
| 1970 | ||||||||
| 1980 | ||||||||
| 1990 | 520 | 514 | 0 | |||||
| 2000 | 514 | 492 | 0 | |||||
| 2010 | ||||||||
| 2020 |
Method of Exclusion
- Violent Expulsion
Main Ethnic Group(s)
Group(s) Excluded
- Black
Comments
According to the The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, a race riot occurred in Bonanza at the beginning of the 20th century: “The Bonanza Race War of 1904 was a race riot/labor war that occurred in the coal-mining city of Bonanza (Sebastian County) and resulted in the expulsion of African Americans from the city following several days of violence. On the night of Saturday, April 30, however, tensions exploded when black and white patrons of Clinton%u2019s Saloon traded shots outside the establishment. This led to a city-wide exchange of bullets; the Fort Smith Times reported that %u201Cas many as 500 shots were fired during the night.%u201D The Arkansas Gazette reported on May 7 that nearly all African Americans had left the city. By 1930, the township in which Bonanza is located recorded no African-American residents, and it was still all white as of the 2000 Census.”