- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

��Vlog��ý Little Rock class investigates Arkansas’s ‘other Trail of Tears’

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 14:46:13 +0000

Arkansas is well known for its location on the Trail of Tears, the pathway the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole tribes traveled through the state in the 1830s to new lands in the Indian Territory in modern-day Oklahoma.�� Few people, however, know about Arkansas’s history as the first and only state in the country to legally evict its entire free black population. In 1859, the state passed legislation that required all free blacks and mulattos to leave the state by Jan. 1, 1860. Any who chose to stay would be captured and sold into slavery. Dr. Brian Mitchell, professor of history at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, refers to the forced migration of free blacks and mulattos as “Arkansas’s other Trail of Tears.” “It’s an interesting piece of Arkansas history that we know very little about,” Mitchell said. “Most people know about forced migration in Native American history, but very few people know that there was a forced migration of free blacks. Arkansas has its own homegrown African-American Trail of Tears that nobody talks about.” Mitchell’s research was aided by EAST Scholarship Program students, including Evan Alden, Larry Dicus, Ian Thompson, and Cheyenne Shelton. The project is an effort students and the College of Arts, Letters and Sciences to highlight the use of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in the humanities. The legislation was passed in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Scott v. Sandford decision in 1857, wherein the court essentially ruled that a black person could not be a citizen of the United States.��An article written for the��points out that��period newspapers estimated��that approximately 800 out of a population of about 1,000 free blacks left the state because of the law. However, Mitchell believes that the number of those expelled exceeded 1,000. He notes that the legislature placed a prohibition on the migration or introduction of free blacks into the state more than 10 years prior to the expulsion. As a result, Mitchell speculates that “free blacks, aided by friends and family already residing in the state, snuck through the state’s porous borders and merely evaded being counted enumerations.” In order to discover what happened to the exiles, Mitchell and a group of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students searched the U.S. Census records of 1850, identifying many of the free blacks who resided in the state prior to the Expulsion of 1860. They next scoured the federal census records of 1860 and 1870 to discover where the exiled free blacks found sanctuary. To complement the information recovered from the census, Mitchell also collected hundreds of newspaper articles and letters relating to the forced migration. “Once Arkansas passed this legislation, a number of other states start blocking the migration of free blacks. Many people moved from state to state looking for a home,” Mitchell said. “There were predominantly two areas that accepted more of them than anyone else, Kansas and Ohio. Many of the free blacks also hid along the border in Missouri, but there are other fascinating and unexpected things that we discovered.”�� In Fort Smith, Mitchell found that white neighbors protected a small community of interracial families that had come to Arkansas to escape the prejudice of the bigger cities. “This community was comprised of expanded families, so they were not going to tell on their family members,” he said. The law forced those who had difficulty finding a new home to make an impossible decision. In a newspaper article, Mitchell found an account of a woman who chose to return to Arkansas and become a slave because she could not find a new home for her family. “There is one lady who returns with her children, and it appears she had nowhere to go,” Mitchell said. “She resigns herself to going back to Arkansas and signing herself over to be a slave for someone else she knew.” On the opposite end of the story spectrum, Mitchell also found an exciting tale of a man who risked everything to save his family from slavery. “One of the more exciting episodes is a free black man who steals away his family from slavery,” he said. “They go to California and never return. It’s a particularly dangerous time to be a free black. A lot of people kidnap them and sell them as slaves in the South and make a lot of money doing this.” Students working with Mitchell are partnering with the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies to develop a website that will help people learn more about free blacks, forced migration, and the fate of the exiles. The website will include a searchable database, maps, primary resources, and lesson plans for middle school and high school classes.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock researcher uncovers history of black activism during World War I

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 23:10:17 +0000

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock graduate student is shedding light on long-overlooked contributions black communities in Arkansas made to the World War I effort.�� Crystal Shurley, an archivist at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies who completed her Master of Arts in public history in December 2018, wrote her thesis on the history of the Arkansas Colored Auxiliary Council, an early archivist group that was active during World War I and has remained a relatively undocumented part of Arkansas history. “This is an important piece of black Arkansas history that has not been investigated,” Shurley said. “I think it’s important that we remember that history is made by everyone, and not everyone that is a history maker is a white male. Unfortunately, in history we often focus on people who are in the limelight instead of ordinary people who have worked hard to achieve great things and often get no credit.” For her thesis, Shurley searched through the Arkansas Council of Defense Records located in the Arkansas State Archives. Despite the patriotic efforts of black communities during World War I, their efforts were often seen a potential threat to white authorities. “Her thesis and website fill a hole in Arkansas history and are timely additions to the scholarship of World War I history in the war’s centennial year,” said Dr. Brian Mitchell, assistant professor of history and Shurley’s thesis advisor. “While scholars know a tremendous amount of information about how Arkansans supported and entertained white World War I recruits and soldiers, very little is known about about how black Arkansans supported black soldiers on the home front. Shurley’s work reveals the patriotism espoused by the black community and the efforts that they made to ensure that their husbands, fathers, and sons who pledged themselves to the war effort would be appreciated and supported by their own.” The Council of National Defense was established in 1916 to coordinate industries and resources in the event that the United States entered World War I. This national council oversaw investigations of infrastructure, troop movement, supply mobilization, production and distribution of propaganda, organization of civilian population, and the nation’s capability to produce materials. Smaller councils were established at the state and county level, including councils for African Americans and women. The Arkansas State Council of Defense was created on May 22, 1917; however, Arkansas resisted the federal government’s instructions to create a council for African Americans. By July 1918, federal authorities were threatening to organize the African Americans themselves. “The federal authorities had to literally threaten Arkansas to organize their black community,” Shurley said. “Arkansas did not want to have a council that was organizing the black community into any kind of authoritative force. A lot of states were afraid of the black community uniting, and black people gaining a sense of equality. But Arkansas officials thought that if the federal authorities reached out to the black community, that they would get an overinflated sense of their importance.” In a 1918 letter to convince Arkansas to organize the black community, Council of National Defense member Arthur Fleming wrote, “It will also prevent the over-emphasis which would result from different federal agencies approaching the Negroes independently and which, as you can readily see, might create in their minds a disastrous misconception of their importance.” The Arkansas Colored Auxiliary Council held its first meeting on Aug. 10, 1918. The council was supervised by John Bond, the state education superintendent, and Wallace Townsend, the director of the state council, who reassured state council members by selecting conservative black leaders. Scipio Jones, a prominent black attorney and former slave who is best known for his defense of 12 black men sentenced to death following the Elaine Massacre of 1919, was appointed as the state chairman of the Colored Auxiliary Council. Another prominent member, Josiah Blount, later became the first black person to run for governor in Arkansas in 1920. ��

This Nov. 2, 1918, Arkansas Democrat article from the Arkansas Council of Defense Records located in the Arkansas State Archives showcases the different black leaders who worked with the Council of Defense on the Arkansas Colored Auxiliary Council. The leaders of the community were trying to raise a minimum of $400,000 dollars during the month of November. The Auxiliary Council had its first meeting on Aug. 10, 1918, and by November the committee was working hard to rise money for the war effort.

“These men were well-educated leaders in Arkansas’s black communities and the Arkansas Colored Auxiliary Council,” Shurley said. “Townsend and Bond believed that the men of the Colored Auxiliary Council would work within the established social guidelines of appropriate behavior for black men, according to white society in Arkansas, and to some extent they did. These same black men were working within their communities to uplift and change the environment around them.” The Arkansas State Council of Defense largely excluded the accomplishments of the Arkansas Colored Auxiliary Council from official reports, but Shurley found examples of their accomplishments recorded in the newspapers of the day. In 1918, the Branch Normal College, now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, signed a contract with the government to train 2,400 black soldiers in mechanical trades. The Daily Arkansas Gazette reported on April 29, 1918, that black communities in Phillips County mortgaged their farm stock to raise money to purchase war bonds. Jones donated $200 to the War Fund Drive in November 1918. Gov. Charles Brough even issued a public statement about the donation to encourage other black people to make similar donations. Local black organizations purchased thousands of dollars of war stamps. Jones and the Mosaic Templars of America, a black fraternal organization established in Little Rock, donated $100,000 to U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Williams McAdoo for World War I. The contributions of black women were largely ignored in the official reports as well. In the Report of the Woman’s Committee Council of Defense for Arkansas, Shurley noted that just one paragraph in a 72-page report described the work of black women, who were active in food conservation, collecting war savings stamps, Red Cross, health, and child welfare. Black women who volunteered for the Red Cross sewed clothes for American soldiers in special rooms set up by the Mosaic Templars of America since black people were not allowed to work in the same places as white people. Shurley said that black women at the time were often accused of not working hard enough to support the war effort if they did not also work as domestic help for white families. G.B. Ewing, a white Desha County judge, wrote a letter to the Arkansas Council of Defense about his concerns over the lack of black female domestic labor in Arkansas. While the “women of the white race have done their utmost to assist in everything about winning the war,” Ewing wrote, “it is impossible to get any domestic help from the negro women in fact they have practically quit work and we find they are being kept up by the increase in earning of the negro men or from allotments obtained from government through enlisted negroes, so vagrancy laws will not reach them.” “Black women were actually villainized by some in the Council of Defense,” Shurley said. “In some states, there were laws that were put into place that black women had to have a job outside their home in order to force them to work as domestics. The white community felt that their standard of living was getting too high since their husbands were in the war and bringing home a steady paycheck.” Shurley also created with information about its members, historical records, newspaper clippings, council reports, and correspondence that she hopes others will use to learn more about this group and their contributions to fight World War I. “Sometimes, we focus on all the horrible things that happen to people of color, and we don’t focus on the amazing contributions they have made to society,” Shurley said. “The Arkansas Colored Auxiliary Council was an incredibly positive influence and force in the black community. They made incredible contributions that they were never recognized for.” The website will also provide an excellent guide for educators in Arkansas who wish to teach their students about the Arkansas Colored Auxiliary Council. “Her thesis and website provide a rich tapestry of details regarding the organization of the Arkansas Colored Auxiliary Council, its membership, and its activities,” Mitchell said. “I hope that middle and high school teachers throughout the state will incorporate Shurley’s digital contribution to their lesson plans and classroom discussion of the Great War.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock completes digitization of history of segregation, integration of Arkansas schools

Janea Snyder — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 22:07:31 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Center for Arkansas History and Culture (CAHC) has completed work on a $106,908 grant to digitize materials related to the history of segregation and integration of Arkansas’s educational system. The award was part of the Digitizing Hidden Collections and Archives initiative sponsored by the (CLIR) and funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This two-and-a-half year project brought together CAHC, the Central Arkansas Library System’s and the to create a rare collection of materials, housed in three different archives, yet digitally available in a single location. As a result of this project, a unique group of archival collections are now easily accessible online to students and scholars of civil rights, race, education, and the law, as well as the general public. Anyone around the world now has the opportunity to study the evolution of education in Central Arkansas through the lens of religion, the judicial system, and contemporary students and educators. In addition to the more than 350,000 digital files now available online, CAHC has also published a featuring digital objects from the project along with a timeline, lesson plans, and short essays by scholars. “Understanding the multiple dimensions of segregation and integration in Arkansas is greatly enhanced as a result of the grant-funded work completed by ��Vlog��ý Little Rock archivists and students,” said Deborah Baldwin, associate provost of the Center for Arkansas History and Culture. Despite the creation of digital files, each repository will continue to retain the originals in perpetuity. Collections digitized as part of the project include the following:

The contains materials pertaining to Dunbar High School, Little Rock’s high school for black students before integration. This collection originated from a joint effort of the National Dunbar Alumni Association and ��Vlog��ý Little Rock.
The was received by ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 1981 through FOIA requests. Judge Ronald Davies requested the U.S. Attorney authorize an FBI investigation after receiving information the National Guard had turned away nine African American students who had attempted to attend classes at Central High School in September 1957.
, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas during the Central High integration crisis, spoke out against Gov. Orval Faubus’s handling of the school crisis. Included in Brown’s papers are letters both supporting and criticizing his position.
taught English at Central High School for more than 40 years. She kept a journal during the integration crisis and published a book that was later made into a film.
s 1958 ruling in the case Aaron v. Cooper temporarily halted the integration of Little Rock’s Central High School. His papers contain a scrapbook and correspondence detailing his role in the desegregation crisis.
houses material related to the Little Rock Nine, Women’s Emergency Committee, the organization of the Central High Museum prior to its affiliation with the National Park Service, and oral histories.
The (ODM) is a federal office resulting from a Pulaski County school desegregation case (filed Nov. 30, 1982) and charged with monitoring and assisting efforts of three school districts to meet desegregation obligations and mandates. ODM records include documents, court filings and exhibits, and correspondence, maps, school profiles, and reports concerning compliances, operations, and policies.

Th top right photo (included in the digital archive) shows Daisy Bates looking off from the camera as she and members of the Little Rock Nine wait outside of a door marked “District Attorney Library.” Photo courtesy of Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site

Bowen Law Review symposium celebrates anniversary of landmark case

Janea Snyder — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 20:34:40 +0000

The Law Review of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law and will host a symposium on Friday, Sept. 28, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Cooper v. Aaron.�� In the landmark case, John and Thelma Aaron and others filed suit in federal court in Arkansas for the purpose of integrating Arkansas schools. The resulting U.S. Supreme Court case, Cooper v. Aaron, established the supremacy of the federal constitution and also established the notion of the supremacy of the Supreme Court in interpreting the constitution. The 2018 Altheimer Symposium will take place 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Friday Courtroom at the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law, 1201 McMath Ave. in Little Rock. The event is open to the public, and admission is free. The issues raised by Cooper are still the subject of vibrant debate. Increasingly, state and local officials seek to avoid enforcing or following federal mandates ranging from the same-sex marriage decision in Obergefell v. Hodges to the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate in NFIB v. Sebelius. This symposium will discuss the history and impact of Cooper v. Aaron, the local significance of the case, and its continuing vitality in an age of political and legal polarization. In the morning, national constitutional scholars will speak about the impact that Cooper v. Aaron has had on the balance between constitutional supremacy and states’ rights. In the afternoon, local speakers will discuss the events in Little Rock that led to the decision as well as the impact that Cooper v. Aaron has had on the community. Local speakers include Judge Wiley Branton, Jr.; attorney John Walker; Dr. Sybil Hampton, who was among the early students to integrate Central High School; and Dr. LaVerne Bell-Tolliver, assistant professor in ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s School of Social Work and editor of “The First Twenty-Five: An Oral History of the Desegregation of Little Rock’s Public Junior High Schools.” More information and a registration form can be found

Community invited to April 26 lecture on Islamic faith

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 17:30:36 +0000

Dr. Mahmoud Al-Denaway Hassanein, Iman of the Little Rock Islamic Center, will give a public lecture explaining the core ideas of the Islamic faith for those who are unfamiliar with Islam.�� The talk, “Demystifying Islam: An Introduction to the Faith,” will begin at 7 p.m. April 26, in Room 124 at the Arkansas Studies Institute, 401 President Clinton Ave. in Little Rock. “Islam is a religion that is poorly understood by Americans,” said Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm, University of Arkansas at Little Rock assistant professor of political science. “The media often portrays extreme interpretations of the faith as if they were shared by all Muslims. In his talk, Dr. Al-Denaway will provide an overview of the basic tenets of Islam held by mainstream Muslims.” Al-Denaway served as an assistant professor of Islamic Studies at Al-Azhar University from 2007 to 2015. He has hosted and appeared on many Egyptian television programs, has served as an English-Arabic interpreter, and has translated more than 10 academic books. The ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Middle Eastern Studies Program, the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture, and the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies are presenting the event. For more information, contact Wiebelhaus-Brahm at ejwiebelhaus@ualr.edu or 501.569.3331.

Ebony and Jet founder John Harold Johnson honored at Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail

Ajani Oyindamola — Fri, 17 Feb 2017 19:18:05 +0000

John Harold Johnson, founder of Ebony and Jet magazines, has been recognized for his achievements in advancing economic opportunities for African Americans in the United States.�� A plaque bearing Johnson’s name was installed in the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail in Johnson’s hometown state on Feb. 1. Established in the summer of 2011, the honors those who made significant contributions to civil rights in Arkansas. The trail raises public awareness of the long and rich legacy of Arkansas’s civil rights histor “John Harold Johnson is one of the most successful black entrepreneurs that Arkansas has produced, moving from modest origins in Arkansas City to building the largest black publishing company in the United States with instantly recognized titles such as Jet and Ebony,” said Dr. John Kirk, director of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Anderson Institute for Race and Ethnicity. Johnson was represented at the ceremony by Janis Kearney, a writer and presidential diarist for President Bill Clinton, and former managing editor of the Arkansas State Press. This year’s event recognized 10 Arkansans who made great strides in economic advancement. “In times when African Americans were often treated as second-class citizens and faced many obstacles, economic advancement was in itself a defiant protest against white supremacy and a refusal against the odds to surrender to pervasive racial discrimination,” Kirk said. Johnson was born in Arkansas City, Arkansas, in 1918. After moving to Chicago in 1942, Johnson obtained a loan that allowed him to publish the first issue of the Negro Digest. Together with Jet and Ebony, the Negro Digest became part of the Johnson Publishing Company, the largest African-American owned and operated publishing company in the United States. In 1982, Johnson became the first African American to appear on the Forbes 400, a list of the wealthiest Americans based on net worth. He received numerous awards for his achievements, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Clinton. The Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail event was held in partnership with the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity, the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, and the Clinton School of Public Service. For more details, contact the Anderson Institute at 569-8932 or race-ethnicity@ualr.edu.

Virtual exhibit launched to commemorate history of women’s suffrage in Arkansas

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 18:47:41 +0000

A virtual exhibit by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture showcases the history of the women’s suffrage movement in Arkansas. The exhibit debuted during an event at the state Capitol during which Gov. Asa Hutchinson proclaimed Feb. 7 “Women’s Primary Suffrage Centennial Day.” The day marked 100 years since Arkansas gave women the right to vote in primary elections — three years before the United States passed the 19th Amendment, which established that right throughout the country. Arkansas was the first southern state to ratify the amendment. Representatives Charlotte Douglas (R-Alma), Vivian Flowers (D-Pine Bluff), and Deborah Ferguson (D-West Memphis) also gave remarks during the event, which kicked off three years of activities celebrating women’s suffrage. �� Participants wore suffragist-style clothing and gathered on the steps of the Capitol building to recreate a photo taken on Feb. 7, 1917, with then-Gov. Charles Brough to celebrate women’s primary suffrage rights in Arkansas. The virtual exhibit, “Arkansas Women’s Suffrage Centennial,” features historic documents and photographs as well as essays and critiques on various aspects of women’s suffrage. Additionally, the virtual exhibit includes lesson plans and educational materials for teachers.��

AJ Walker completed a service learning appointment with the Center for Arkansas History and Culture and conducted research on Florence Cotnam, an Arkansas suffragist. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III/��Vlog��ý Little Rock Communications.

“Creating this virtual exhibit will give the world access to important resources and scholarly perspective on this critical leap in Arkansas’s long history of civil rights struggles,” said Chad Garret, director of technology and digital initiatives for ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Collections and Archives. “The fact that it’s online means that anyone can access valuable information on the struggle Arkansas’s women endured to access their right to vote and be full participants in our democracy.” The virtual exhibit is supported by a grant from the and the Department of Arkansas Heritage. The project steering committee includes representatives from the Arkansas Secretary of State’s office, the Arkansas State Archives, the Arkansas Women’s History Institute, the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, the Center for Arkansas History and Culture, the Old State House Museum, and the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History. For more information and to view the exhibit, visit the. In the upper right photo, attendees celebrate��“Women’s Primary Suffrage Centennial Day” Feb. 7 at the state Capitol. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III/��Vlog��ý Little Rock Communications.

Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail honorees remembered for strides in economic advancement

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 15:23:09 +0000

Angela Walker fondly remembers her grandfather, William “Sonny” Walker, was her family’s “personal hero.”�� “He was a great man,” said Angela Walker, an early childhood education master’s student at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. “He was always a gentleman you could talk to about anything. He made a big impact on our community.” Sonny Walker, former head of the Arkansas Office of Economic Opportunity, was one of 10 people whose names were added to the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail Feb. 1 near the Ron Robinson Theater in downtown Little Rock. Established in the summer of 2011, the Civil Rights Heritage Trail honors those who made significant contributions to civil rights in Arkansas. The trail raises public awareness of the long and rich legacy of Arkansas’s civil rights history. This year’s event recognized African Americans who made great strides in economic advancement. “In times when African Americans were often treated as second-class citizens and faced many obstacles, economic advancement was in itself a defiant protest against white supremacy and a refusal against the odds to surrender to pervasive racial discrimination,” said John Kirk, director of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity. Gov. Asa Hutchinson stated that the fight for civil rights is not something that belongs solely to previous generations. “It is a battle each generation must engage in,” Hutchinson said. “Emphasizing the importance of our Civil Rights history is important for each generation of Arkansans.” The ceremony brought mixed emotions for Angela Walker. Her grandfather would have been proud to receive such an honor, but she was sad he could not attend the ceremony himself. He passed away June 14, 2016. “He would have loved this,” she said. “He deserved it, but he was a very humble man.” A Pine Bluff native and ��Vlog��ý Little Rock alumnus, Sonny Walker became the first African American to head a state economic opportunity office in the South, a position that Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller appointed him to in 1969. Walker also became the first African American cabinet member of a southern governor. Walker moved to Atlanta in 1972 when President Richard Nixon appointed him regional director of the Office of Economic Opportunity. He later served as director and chief operating officer for the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change and as a speechwriter for King’s widow Coretta Scott King.

John Kirk, director of the Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity, announced 10 names to be added to the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail during a program at the Ron Robinson Theater on Feb. 1. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III.

During the Feb. 1 event, a 12-inch bronze marker was placed on the trail for each honoree. The trail begins in front of the Old State House Convention Center on Markham Street and will eventually extend to the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park and other points throughout the downtown corridor. The markers for this year’s honorees were installed at the corner of LaHarpe Boulevard and President Clinton Avenue. During the ceremony, the Dunbar Magnet Middle School Singers, Tonya Leeks, and David Ashley performed live music from the Civil Rights era. The event was held in partnership with the Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity, the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, and the Clinton School of Public Service. Other 2017 honorees include:

��William Wallace Andrews, a prominent African American leader and entrepreneur in Little Rock before and after the Civil War
��Scott Winfield Bond, a successful landowner, farmer and businessman in the Arkansas Delta and one of Arkansas’s wealthiest African Americans during the period before the New Deal in the 1930s
��John Edward Bush, co-founder of the Mosaic Templars of America, a fraternal organization that expanded to 26 states and six foreign countries between the 1880s and 1930s. He was also chair of the Arkansas Republican Party.
��Robert Lee Hill, founder of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America, which organized in the Arkansas Delta to gain fair wages for sharecroppers after World War I
��John Harold Johnson, who built the largest African American publishing company in the world, producing titles such as Ebony and Jet magazines
��Walter “Wiley” Jones, one of the wealthiest African Americans in the South from his various business endeavors in late 19th century Pine Bluff
��Chester W. Keatts, co-founder of the Mosaic Templars of America, a fraternal organization that expanded to 26 states and six foreign countries between the 1880s and 1930s
��Josephine Irvin Harris Pankey, a successful real estate developer who accumulated large tracts of land in West Little Rock during the age of segregation
��Sue Cowan Williams, an English teacher at Dunbar High School who successfully sued the school district for equal pay with white teachers during the 1940s

For more details, please contact the Anderson Institute at 569-8932 or race-ethnicity@ualr.edu. In the upper right photo,��Gov. Asa Hutchinson gives the introduction to the induction ceremony for the 2017 Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail honorees. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III.��

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

����Vlog��ý Little Rock class investigates Arkansas’s ‘other Trail of Tears’

����Vlog��ý Little Rock researcher uncovers history of black activism during World War I

����Vlog��ý Little Rock completes digitization of history of segregation, integration of Arkansas schools