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

��Vlog��ýLR Bowen School of Law invites students to attend upcoming event

Jenny Lambert — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 19:51:08 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law will host civil-rights activist Gloria Browne-Marshall at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23. Browne-Marshall, an associate professor of constitutional law at John Jay College, will discuss her latest book, “The Voting Rights War: The NAACP and the Ongoing Struggle for Justice.” The event, which will take place inside the law school’s courtroom, is free and open to the public. A reception and book signing will follow the lecture. Browne-Marshall has spoken nationally and internationally about the quest for equality and how it pertains to women and people of color. She is the founder and director of The Law and Policy Group, Inc. She also works as a civil rights attorney and has provided legal commentary for several of America’s leading news correspondents, including CNN, CBS, and C-SPAN. Partnering with the law school on this event are the ��Vlog��ýLR Joel E. Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, and the National Parks Service. For information on upcoming law school events, visit the school’s website.

��Vlog��ýLR Institute on Race and Ethnicity helps bring unity to Camden

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 20:33:21 +0000

An Arkansas town has embraced an open dialogue about race and ethnicity that participants hope can serve as a strong example to the rest of the nation. On Tuesday, Aug. 2, the residents of Camden, Arkansas, celebrated the results of a five-year partnership between the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Joel E. Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity and Camden’s Unity in the Community Committee (UIC) aimed at improving race and ethnic relations in the community. “In the Delta and the southeast and southcentral part of Arkansas, there is little dialogue on race relations in general,” said John Kirk, director of the ��Vlog��ýLR Institute on Race and Ethnicity. “There are even fewer forums and a greater need for a dialogue in these smaller rural communities.” Providing open forums where residents can discuss these issues developed a community that is more understanding to race and ethnicity, Kirk said. The staple of the Camden campaign is the annual celebration, a community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie with live music, food, and games. This year’s Camden event was held from 6-8 p.m., Aug. 2, in Camden’s Carnes Park. Camden hosted its first National Night Out in 2014 with more than 300 people. The event grew to over 500 people in 2015, and this year’s goal is to host more than 1,000. To the people of Camden, a picturesque town of 12,000 residents that lies along the shores of the Ouachita River two hours south of Little Rock, this event provides a place where neighbors can get to know one another and build the trust necessary to keep a community strong. “Once you meet somebody, and you have someone looking out for your best interests, it develops relationships,” said Matt Stone, a business owner who is celebrating his 30th anniversary of moving to Camden. “When people know each other, they can develop a rapport and trust and help each other. You are less likely to jump to conclusions with someone you know.”

Forming a partnership for Camden

When the news of riots in Ferguson, Missouri, reached Camden, the members of the Unity in Community Committee realized they were on the right track, Stone said.

Matt Stone (left) and Janice White (right) serve as co-chairs of Camden’s Unity in the Community Committee.

By 2014, the committee had already been meeting for three years. With images of communities such as fresh in their minds, Camden citizens wondered what might happen to their town if underlying issues of racial tensions were not addressed. “We wanted to be proactive in promoting racial healing in Camden,” Stone said. “When you look at what happened in Ferguson, Missouri, we knew we were headed in the right direction by creating a forum where problems could be addressed through the legal system instead of spilling into the streets.” With help from the Institute on Race and Ethnicity, Camden residents banded together to make sure their town is not torn apart by the racial divides that have rocked other communities. Camden’s Unity in the Community Committee is made up of community members and civic leaders who want to heal racial division and foster unity among the citizens of Camden. More than five years ago, Stone heard former ��Vlog��ýLR Chancellor Dr. Joel Anderson, who retired on June 30, speak about the efforts of the Institute on Race and Ethnicity. “The institute hoped to come into a community and help people heal and grow. I asked what would be involved in getting Camden to be the first community that the institute helped,” Stone said. So Stone called former Camden Mayor Chris Claybaker, Bishop Chester Thompson, and Dr. Larry Braden to see if they were interested in exploring the opportunity. The Institute on Race and Ethnicity has been working with Camden residents since 2011. Under the leadership of Dr. John Miller, a member of the Chancellor’s Committee on Race and Ethnicity, a forerunner of the institute, Camden formed a committee to organize the effort. Members held focus groups and analyzed the results, organized town hall meetings where issues of race and ethnicity could be discussed openly, and helped residents form goals for unity. The institute facilitated the original town hall meetings in Camden and trained the committee members to set objectives and handle the dialogue during the meetings. “Dr. John Miller was an inspiration to the whole group, and then Dr. John Kirk has been great to work with. The whole experience has been positive,” Stone said.

Camden will hold its National Night Out event from 6-8 p.m., Aug. 2, in Camden’s Carnes Park.

Facing the issues

Some of the challenges the institute discovered were that people in Camden avoided discussing issues of race and also felt divided along poverty lines. “Camden faces the same issues as a lot of rural towns — depopulation, a history of strained race relations, a lack of employment. If you don’t have a forum for dialogue and a place to talk about those things, those small communities can be fairly isolated,” Kirk said. “They can break up into different racial areas and enclaves, and it can be difficult to facilitate conversation across those lines. It is important to break those barriers to open up conversations to handle those more pressing community issues,” Kirk said. Members of the Camden committee confronted these deep-seated issues with an awareness campaign. As part of the campaign, they hosted community meetings where these topics could be discussed openly and honestly. They also held community events to foster resident relationships. “We had to bring these issues to the forefront for awareness,” said Janice White, a fourth-grade teacher and co-chair of the community committee. “People were not aware that these personal feelings were actually there. Whether racism or the division actually existed was one thing, but how people felt about it was another. Perception is so important. We were trying to close the gaps for the feelings of the people.”

Coming together as a community

One of the largest gaps committee members faced was the perception of Camden between black people and white people.

Janice White (right) and a police officer prepare for the 2015 National Night Out event.

“When we talked to white people, we asked them how was Camden? How have things changed for the betterment of Camden since the 1970s?” White said. “Some white people would say it’s an 8 or 9. When we posed that same question to black people, they would say 4, 5, or 6. So right there we knew the perception was different for blacks than whites. That is when we started having dialogue. What can we do to change that?” Camden residents responded that the people did not spend enough time together as a community. “People said we don’t do anything together. We work together, our children play sports together, but there was not any coming together outside the few interracial churches we have. For the most part, Camden’s churches are still divided. Our goal is to continue to hold more events that will bring people together to socialize and communicate. We want to break down some stereotypes that cause division,” White said. In addition to National Night Out, the committee holds monthly meetings where members discuss ongoing issues. Committee members also speak with church congregations to raise awareness about issues of diversity and how to unify the community. To the members of the committee, the changes since the Institute on Race and Ethnicity first visited Camden are abundant. “Before, these issues were like the elephant in the room that no one wanted to recognize or acknowledge,” White said. “Now, people in Camden can openly talk about these issues and bring resolutions without feeling threatened.”

Institute on Race and Ethnicity to be renamed in honor of Chancellor Anderson

Ajani Oyindamola — Fri, 27 May 2016 18:52:14 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Institute on Race and Ethnicity will be renamed in honor of retiring Chancellor Joel E. Anderson, who was instrumental in the establishment of the institute in July 2011. “I am truly honored,” Anderson said. “It pleases me that my name will be associated with an ongoing work to understand and eliminate racial and ethnic prejudice and discrimination in Arkansas.” Institute Director John Kirk requested the name change, which was approved by the institute’s advisory council. The University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees approved the request at its May 26 meeting. “Dr. Anderson’s 45 years at ��Vlog��ýLR, with some 39 of those years spent in various leadership positions, has allowed the young man from Swifton to live out his commitment to see ��Vlog��ýLR achieve a pivotal role in pursuing racial and ethnic justice in Arkansas,” Kirk said. “I can think of no more fitting and rightful tribute to this distinguished career than for the Institute to be renamed the Joel E. Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity.” Anderson is retiring from ��Vlog��ýLR at the end of June after a 13-year tenure as chancellor. He created the Chancellor’s Committee on Race and Ethnicity in 2006. Out of the committee’s work, the Institute on Race and Ethnicity was created to work with Arkansas communities to end racial and ethnic injustice. The institute has recently been recognized for its work by the Arkansas Historical Association. It received the Diamond Award for the in recognition of its excellence in public history engagement and an award of merit for the Arkansas Civil Rights History Tour App created with the City of Little Rock, which offers residents and visitors a new way to explore the city’s rich civil rights history. In addition, the institute also oversees the annual Racial Attitudes in Pulaski County Conference. In the upper right photo, Chancellor Joel E. Anderson walks to the stage during the 2016 spring commencement at Jack Stephens Center. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III.

Arkansas Historical Association honors ��Vlog��ýLR Institute on Race and Ethnicity, Carl Moneyhon

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 17:06:49 +0000

The Institute on Race and Ethnicity at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock was honored with three awards from the. During an April 22 ceremony, the institute received the Diamond Award for the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail, in recognition of its excellence in public history engagement, and an award of merit for the Arkansas Civil Rights History Tour. Institute Director John Kirk received the Violet B. Gingles Award for his manuscript, and Dr. Carl Moneyhon, a ��Vlog��ýLR professor of history, received the Arkansas Historical Association Lifetime Achievement Award. “The work of Dr. John Kirk and the Institute on Race and Ethnicity to document and preserve the history of civil rights in Arkansas fills a needed gap to recognize this area of Arkansas history that been neglected,” ��Vlog��ýLR Chancellor Joel E. Anderson said. “We are grateful to the Arkansas Historical Association for their recognition and for their support of the institute’s work.” Established in 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 history. A 12-inch bronze marker is placed in the sidewalk 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. “I think it is a reflection of the hard work that the institute has done over the past five years,” Kirk said. “These awards are an endorsement of our achievements and what the institute has done. These awards reflect the raising awareness and public consciousness of race and ethnicity in central Arkansas, which is one of the central goals of the institute.”

Institute on Race and Ethnicity receives award of merit

In addition to the Diamond Award, the institute received an award of merit, an annual award that recognizes public history programs of excellence, for the Arkansas Civil Rights History Tour App that launched in November 2015. The app, created in partnership with Little Rock city officials, offers residents and visitors a new way to explore the city’s rich civil rights history. The free Apple and Android app guides users on an excursion through some of the city’s most influential historical sites, going back to the 1840s. Each of the 35 stops on the GPS-guided tour includes compelling narratives, historic photos, audio, and links to related content. Narrated in both English and Spanish, the app also offers information about Jewish history in Little Rock, Hispanic migrations to Arkansas, and Native American tribes.

John Kirk receives Violet B. Gingles Award

In the individual award categories, Kirk received the Violet B. Gingles Award for his manuscript, “The Politics of Southern Industrialization: Winthrop Rockefeller, Orval Faubus and the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission.” The award is presented to the person who writes the best manuscript article on any Arkansas history topic. Kirk will receive $500, and his manuscript will be published in Arkansas Historical Quarterly.

John Kirk

Kirk’s manuscript covers the political events leading to Winthrop Rockefeller being elected the first Republican governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction. Rockefeller served as chairman of the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission, a position Gov. Orval Faubus appointed him to in 1955. However, Rockefeller opposed Faubus’ stance on segregation. “Rockefeller saw segregation as being bad for business, and Faubus put segregation in the national spotlight by preventing nine black students from entering Central High School in 1957,” Kirk said. “It eventually led to Rockefeller running for office and beating the leading segregation candidate. It was a pivotal election for the state because Rockefeller became the first Republican governor in the state in over 90 years.”

Carl Moneyhon receives Lifetime Achievement Award

In addition to the institute’s awards, Moneyhon received the Arkansas Historical Association Lifetime Achievement Award for his research, teaching, and outreach to the public.

Carl Moneyhon

“I have felt since I came to Arkansas that there was much to be done in terms of recording the state’s history, and I have tried to do my best in filling that gap,” Moneyhon said. “I appreciate the association’s recognition of that work.” Moneyhon joined ��Vlog��ýLR in 1973. He is a specialist in the history of the American Civil War and the South and has been widely published in the field. He also is a faculty liaison with the University History Institute, an organization that develops closer ties between the department and the community, and a fellow of the Texas Historical Association. Moneyhon has served on the editorial boards of the Arkansas Historical Association’s journal, Arkansas Historical Quarterly, and the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. In the upper right photo, Tamisha Cheatham, program coordinator at the ��Vlog��ýLR Institute on Race and Ethnicity, and Chancellor Joel E. Anderson receive the Diamond Award for Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail at the Arkansas Historical Association’s award ceremony on April 22.

��Vlog��ýLR kicks off African American History Month

Ajani Oyindamola — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 20:17:24 +0000

Remaining African American History Month events include:

��Black Inventors/Student Invention Program: 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15, in Ledbetter A, B, C. This program highlights important contributions made by African American inventors. It is also a creative opportunity for ��Vlog��ýLR students to showcase their talents by competing in a student invention competition. Winning inventions will receive monetary awards. Contact the Office of Campus Life to sign up.

��“Black & Brown Lives: Justice Over Social Divides”: 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25, at the Clinton School of Public Service Sturgis Hall. Speakers will draw on their own professional experiences as “teaching artists” and community organizers to discuss movements and initiatives that are local to both Chicago and the South.

��Excellence in Service Award Presentation: 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 27, in the Arkansas Capitol Building. Winthrop Rockefeller, Ozelle Sutton, and William Walker will be recognized for their contribution of service toward racial equity and unity. A student shuttle will be available.

For more information and to sign up for events, please contact the Office of Campus Life at 501.569.3308.

New app highlights Little Rock’s civil rights history

Shanna Fitzgerald — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 18:33:46 +0000

Little Rock-area residents and visitors have a new way to explore the city’s rich civil rights history. The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Institute on Race and Ethnicity and Little Rock city officials unveiled the Arkansas Civil Rights History Tour app Monday during a ceremony at ��Vlog��ýLR. The free Apple and Android app guides users on an excursion through some of the city’s most influential historical sites, going back to the 1840s. Each of the 35 stops on the GPS-guided tour includes compelling narratives, historic photos, audio, and links to related content. Tour stops range from the to the . The tour includes a total of three National Historic Landmarks, three National Register Historic Districts, and numerous buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. Narrated in both English and Spanish, the app also offers information about Jewish history in Little Rock, Hispanic migrations to Arkansas, and Native American tribes. Organizers recommend app users begin their route at Broadway and West Ninth Street in downtown Little Rock, but the app can help people customize their own path. A collaboration of the Institute on Race and Ethnicity, the City of Little Rock, the Mayor’s Tourism Commission, and K��Vlog��ýR, ��Vlog��ýLR’s public radio station, led to the creation of the Arkansas Humanities Council-funded app. “The institute’s mission is to remember and understand the past, to inform and engage the present, and to shape and define the future in the area of race and ethnicity,” said Dr. John Kirk, director of the Institute on Race and Ethnicity. “The tour app helps us to do all those things: It powerfully sheds light on the past, it allows people to engage with the past in the present moment, and it helps us to consider how those legacies and lessons can shape and define the future of the city and state.” The app can be found in the and on by searching for “Arkansas history.”

��Vlog��ýLR institute announces 14 new Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail honorees

Shanna Fitzgerald — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 19:50:00 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Institute on Race and Ethnicity has announced the names of the honorees for the . This year’s theme is “Politics and Law” to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The unveiling of the latest plaques on the trail will take place at 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, at the corner of Scott and East Markham streets. The event is free and open to the public. Established in the summer of 2011, the Arkansas 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. A 12-inch bronze marker is placed in the sidewalk 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 Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail unveiling is the signature event of the Institute in its fall program,” said Institute Director John Kirk. “This year, the event will coincide with the conference in Little Rock.” Kirk is the local arrangements chair for the conference, which will bring 1,200 historians to Little Rock. The Civil Rights Heritage Trail unveiling ceremony will launch the conference. “The Institute will partner with the SHA in its opening plenary session that evening on ‘Justice After the Civil Rights Movement’ featuring nationally recognized speakers,” Kirk said.

This year’s 14 honorees are:

Annie Mae Bankhead, who was a community activist in Pulaski County’s black College Station neighborhood
Wiley Branton, Sr., who was head of the Southern Regional Council’s Voter Education Project in the 1960s
Charles Bussey, who was leader of the Veterans Good Government Association and became Little Rock’s first black mayor in 1980
William Harold Flowers, who laid the foundations for the Arkansas State Conference of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People branches
Jeffrey Hawkins, who was for decades the unofficial mayor of Little Rock’s black East End neighborhood
Irma Hunter Brown, who was the first black woman elected to the Arkansas General Assembly
Scipio Africanus Jones, a leading black Republican who defended 12 prisoners for their role in the 1919 Elaine Race Riot
Mahlon Martin, who was the first black city manager of Little Rock
I.S. McClinton, who was head of the Arkansas Democratic Voters Association, a forerunner of today’s Black Democratic Caucus
Richard L. Mays and Henry Wilkins III, who were among the first blacks elected to the Arkansas General Assembly in the 20th century in 1972
Olly Neal, who was the first black district prosecuting attorney in Arkansas and later served on the Arkansas Court of Appeals
Lottie Shackelford, who was the first black woman mayor of Little Rock
John Walker, who for more than five decades has been involved in civil rights activism in the courts, most notably in school desegregation cases

Book signings, speaking engagements scheduled

Shanna Fitzgerald — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 21:33:28 +0000

On Saturday, Sept. 19, Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History Dr. John Kirk, director of the ��Vlog��ýLR Institute on Race and Ethnicity, will conduct a book signing as part of the . The signing is scheduled to occur before the performance of “Blood at the Root” — a play based on Jena 6-related events in Louisiana — at the . Kirk also will be featured at 8 a.m. Saturday on KATV Channel 7’s Daybreak along with Leatrice Russ Glenns, the sister of Carnell Russ, whose death Kirk wrote about in the and . Kirk plans a longer article on the topic this fall in Arkansas Historical Quarterly. In addition, Kirk and Glenns are scheduled to appear on KTHV Channel 11’s morning show on Thursday, Sept. 24, to discuss the Russ case and to promote Carnell Russ Community Unity Day Sept. 26 in Star City. Kirk will speak during the event, as he has the past four years. At 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24, at the Institute on Race and Ethnicity, Sanderia Faye will conduct a book reading/signing of her first novel, “Mourner’s Bench.” The book is based on events in Gould, Arkansas, during the civil rights-movement era. The institute is located in Suite 202 on the second floor of the Ottenheimer Library on the ��Vlog��ýLR campus.

��Vlog��ýLR announces new director for Institute on Race and Ethnicity

Shanna Fitzgerald — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 22:31:46 +0000

The new director of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Institute on Race and Ethnicity is a native of Great Britain who garnered international acclaim for his research and writings on race and the civil rights movement — with a particular focus on Little Rock. ��Vlog��ýLR officials today announced that Dr. John Kirk, Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History, has agreed to take on the important leadership role. Kirk has been a member of the Chancellor’s Committee on Race and Ethnicity since he arrived at the university more than five years ago and has been involved with the institute since its inception about four years ago. “I have a deep personal and professional commitment to the pursuit of racial and ethnic justice, and I think that should be the primary reason anyone takes on the job of director of ��Vlog��ýLR’s Institute on Race and Ethnicity — it is at the very heart of what the institute does,” Kirk said. Kirk plans to connect with and engage as many students, faculty, and community members as possible in achieving the goals of the institute, which include:

Raising awareness of race and ethnicity issues
Providing research-based information and policy recommendations
Building bridges and seeking reconciliation through interracial and interethnic dialogue
Engaging students
Serving as a clearinghouse for on- and off-campus initiatives related to race and ethnicity
Holding ��Vlog��ýLR accountable for becoming a more diverse and multi-ethnic community.

For the past 25 years, Kirk has researched and written about issues of race and ethnicity in the United States, especially in Little Rock and Arkansas. He’s the author of numerous books, including “Race and Ethnicity in Arkansas: New Perspectives,” “Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement,” and “Beyond Little Rock: The Origins and Legacies of the Central High Crisis.” He also recently partnered with the BBC on its Martin Luther King Jr. web display that serves as an information resource for an international audience. In announcing Kirk’s appointment, ��Vlog��ýLR Chancellor Joel E. Anderson noted the professor’s knowledge and passion for civil rights-related topics were ideal fits for the institute’s leadership role. “It is a rare opportunity to work with someone who grew up in Great Britain but whose knowledge of Arkansas civil rights history is probably greater than anyone else’s in Arkansas or the United States,” Anderson said. “Dr. John Kirk is a well-known resource in our community for his expertise on the many ways race has shaped our city and state. I am confident that under his leadership the ��Vlog��ýLR Institute on Race and Ethnicity will continue to grow in influence and will help shape a better future for the people of Arkansas.” Kirk replaces Dr. Michael R. Twyman, who resigned in July to take a position at the Indiana Black Expo organization. With Kirk’s new director responsibilities, he will remain the Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History but no longer will serve as the ��Vlog��ýLR History Department chair. “I am excited by the challenges and opportunities that the director’s job brings with it,” Kirk said. “I particularly look forward to getting to know more about and working with students, faculty, and community members who are learning, teaching, researching and serving on issues of race and ethnicity.”

Graduate student earns scholarship from National Forum for Black Public Administrators

Gloria King — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 20:58:33 +0000

A ��Vlog��ýLR graduate student has received a scholarship from the greater Little Rock chapter of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators (NFBPA), an organization dedicated to the advancement of black public leadership in local and state governments. Reteisha Byrd, a master of public administration graduate student from Helena-West Helena, was given the distinction during the NFBPA “Marks of Excellence” ceremony held Saturday, April 4, at the Clinton Presidential Center. Byrd is the second MPA student from ��Vlog��ýLR to be awarded this scholarship over the last two years. Byrd is a graduate assistant and is currently working with Assistant Professor of Public Administration Michael Craw on a project evaluating the impact of Little Rock’s neighborhood and property owner associations on crime, blight and redevelopment. The project is funded by ��Vlog��ýLR’s Institute on Race and Ethnicity and Institute of Government. “Reteisha’s help has proven very valuable in moving this evaluation project forward, and her ability to learn new software quickly and work independently have been important assets,” said Craw. “It was wonderful to receive this award,” said Byrd. “I am very appreciative of the recognition from the chapter.”

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

����Vlog��ýLR Bowen School of Law invites students to attend upcoming event

����Vlog��ýLR Institute on Race and Ethnicity helps bring unity to Camden