Lonoke County was a popular destination for Wilson County Exodusters migrating to Arkansas in the late 1800s. By 1898, white men were trying to drive out their Black neighbors, and the Wilson Advance ran a brief wire service piece entitled “Race War Threatened.” Lonoke’s African-American community was not intimidated: “When the negroes of Lonoke kill about 25 of these lawless men, the outrages against the negro race will stop, and not until then.”

Wilson Advance, 3 February 1898.

For more about Lonoke families with Wilson County roots, see here and here and here and here.