Kirk received the award April 11 during the 84th Annual Arkansas Historical Association Conference at the U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith. Sponsored by the Arkansas Women’s History Institute, the award includes a $1,000 prize and publication in an upcoming edition of Arkansas Historical Quarterly.

“I am delighted to receive the award,” Kirk said. “Susie Pryor was a pioneer as the first woman to run for political office in Arkansas after women received the right to vote in 1920 and one of the first women to hold a seat on a local school board. Her legacy continued to shape Arkansas politics through her son, former Senator David Pryor, and her grandson, former Senator Mark Pryor.”

Kirk’s article explores a largely overlooked chapter in the state’s legal history. Dinwiddie, a domestic worker, was convicted of murdering a white man in North Little Rock in 1940 and sentenced to death in her Pulaski County Circuit Court trial. On appeal, the Arkansas Supreme Court reduced her sentence to 21 years in prison. Dinwiddie’s case sheds new light on how Arkansas courts navigated issues of gender, race, and the death penalty in the Jim Crow Era.

Kirk’s research began with a case file found in the digitized NAACP papers. He has made extensive use of the NAACP papers in his teaching and research. His students in the university’s graduate program in public history have co-authored award-winning papers using the archive. Their work has earned recognition from the Arkansas Historical Association, including the Lucille Westbrook Award in 2022 and 2024 and the Violet B. Gingles Award in 2023.

Kirk plans to present his award-winning research as part of the ����Vlog��ý Little Rock Department of History’s Evenings with History speaker series during the next academic year.

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Kirk’s talk, “,” will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 17, at the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site visitor center, 2120 W. Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive in Little Rock.

The event is free and open to the public, and the series is meticulously designed to educate and motivate audiences, encouraging them to reflect on their roles in advancing civil rights.

Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, part of the National Park Service, features the story of the Little Rock Nine – the first Black students at the school – and the battle over school desegregation and integration in Little Rock.

“Many people still believe that the Civil Rights Movement in Little Rock and in Arkansas begins and ends with the Central High Crisis in 1957,” Kirk said. “However, as my work over the past 30 years has demonstrated, the crisis was part of a long civil rights movement both in the city and in the state. Everything that happened elsewhere in the civil rights movement—such as sit-ins and Freedom Rides, nonviolent direct action and voter registration campaigns—also occurred here.”

Kirk is an award-winning author and historian who has written extensively about civil rights in Arkansas. Kirk has been honored with the Diamond Award for his work on the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail and the Award of Merit for his work on the Arkansas Civil Rights History Tour App from the Arkansas Historical Association.

Kirk has authored, edited, or co-edited 10 books including, “Redefining the Color Line: Black Activism in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1940-1970,” “Beyond Little Rock: The Origins and Legacies of the Central High Crisis,” “Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement: Controversies and Debates,” “Arsnick: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Arkansas,” “Race and Ethnicity in Arkansas: New Perspectives,” and “The Civil Rights Movement: A Documentary Reader.”

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“The Worthen Prize is a venerable Arkansas tradition, and I join a distinguished list of recipients that includes former governor Sid McMath; Morris Arnold, a senior judge on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals; Mara Leveritt, an investigative journalist; and Kevin Brockmeier, a novelist and short story writer, among many others,” Kirk said. “����Vlog��ý Little Rock’s History Department has also provided past Worthen Prize winners in former Department Chair S. Charles Bolton and former faculty member Elizabeth Jacoway.”

The Booker Worthen Literary Prize is awarded each year to the best work, fiction or nonfiction, by an author living in Arkansas and has a three-year period of eligibility. The award comes with a $2,000 prize, which Kirk said he will use to help pay for his daughter’s college tuition.

Kirk’s biography represents the culmination of 12 years of research. It investigates why Rockefeller, scion of one of the most powerful families in American history, left New York to move to an Arkansas mountaintop in the 1950s. The book covers Rockefeller’s childhood and education, his rise in the oil industry, his military service during World War II, and his family. Kirk tied Rockefeller’s New York life to his later work in his adopted state, where his legacy continues to be felt more than half a century after his governorship.

“The book shines an important light on the former Arkansas governor before he came to the state and the events that shaped him,” Kirk said. “It examines his family background, childhood, and education; his rise in the oil industry from roustabout to junior executive; his military service in the Pacific during World War II, including his involvement in the battles of Guam, Leyte, and Okinawa; his postwar work in race relations, health, education, and philanthropy; his marriage to and divorce from Barbara “Bobo” Sears; and the birth of his only child, future Arkansas lieutenant governor Win Paul Rockefeller.”

The Booker Worthen Literary Prize was established in 1999 in the memory of William Booker Worthen, who was a member of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) Board of Trustees for 22 years, as well as part of the Worthen Bank empire. The award is funded in part by interest from an endowment for the award donated by the Worthen family.

“I am very grateful to the Rockefeller Archive Center in Sleepy Hollow, New York, for naming me its inaugural Scholar-in-Residence and for providing me with further research funding and support to make the book possible,” Kirk said. “I am also grateful to the Central Arkansas Library System’s Butler Center for Arkansas Studies for selecting the book as the 2024 Worthen Prize winner, and to the Arkansas Historical Association for selecting the book as the 2024 J. G. Ragsdale Book Award winner.”

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Dr. John Kirk, George W. Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History at ����Vlog��ý Little Rock, and the students in his fall 2023 Seminar in Public History class, a capstone course that focuses on collaborative research for students who are earning a Master of Arts in public history, have received the Lucille Westbrook Award from the Arkansas Historical Association.

“I started teaching this class three years ago, and it has won an award from the Arkansas Historical Association every year since,” Kirk said. “This is the third award, and second time the class has won the Westbrook Award. It’s quite an achievement for the students.”

The authors received their award, which includes a $1,000 prize and a framed certificate, at the annual meeting of the Arkansas Historical Association April 26 at the Red Apple Inn in Heber Springs. Along with Kirk, the ����Vlog��ý Little Rock student authors include Armando Arellano, Mikaela Bailey, Charles Bonet, Scott Bradshaw, Mary Alice Chambers, Jackelyn Cordova-Romano, Jerry Griffin, Jayla Henderson, Jacob Hicks, Caitlin Robertson, Koria Robinson, Margaret Stone, and Isaac Wolter.

“I’m excited that we won!” said Caitlin Robertson, a public history student from Little Rock. “I think we covered a part of Arkansas Civil Rights history that isn’t as well-known as some of the stuff that came later in the 50s and 60s but is no less important, and I’m glad that our work in that period is being recognized.”

The class received the Westbrook Award for the paper, “Racial Discrimination in Jury Selection: The Arkansas Cases of the Bone Brothers, 1938-1940.”

“The Bone Brothers were working on a plantation in North Little Rock and had an altercation with the owners,” Kirk said. “A shot went off, and the plantation owner’s wife, Mrs. Deaver, was killed. There was a dispute over who fired the shot. Rome Bone was given the death sentence while his brother Moses Bone was given 21 years. Mr. Deaver was never charged.”

The Bone brothers’ case would twice be heard by the Arkansas Supreme Court. The first time, the court reversed the brothers’ convictions and remanded a new trial. On retrial, both brothers were convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 21 years. On the second appeal, the Arkansas Supreme Court reduced their convictions to seven-year sentences.

“It’s quite dramatic for the Arkansas Supreme Court to reverse the decision of the lower courts in two different appeals regarding the same case,” Kirk said. “The overarching significance of the case is that it led to the first Black jurors serving in Pulaski County in over 40 years. Gradually, more Black jurors were appointed to jury panels all over the state.”

Bone v. State was an especially important victory for Scipio Jones, the prominent civil rights attorney, who after many previous attempts, finally successfully argued that excluding Black citizens from serving on juries in local and state court cases violated the constitutional right of defendants.

“It is a really cool experience to have a project I worked on be recognized by the wider historical community,” said Chuck Bonet, a public history student from Derry, Northern Ireland. “Learning about the legal processes of 1930s Little Rock was extremely interesting, and eye-opening in many ways. It was a unique class, and I had a great time. I really appreciated Dr. Kirk’s knowledge and guidance.”

Through meticulous research, dedicated scholarship, and a passion for storytelling, these students and their professor have played a pivotal role in safeguarding the cultural heritage of their community, earning well-deserved recognition for their invaluable contributions.

“During this research, I experienced many moving parts of getting the research done,” said Koria Robinson, a public history student from North Little Rock. “There are many leads to follow that may come up blank in the end. There are also the leads that are a treasure, but the contacts may not follow through with the needed information. This sometimes slows down the process. Dr. Kirk encouraged us not to allow stagnant leads to impede the goals.”

In addition to the Lucille Westbrook Award, Kirk also won the J. G. Ragsdale Book Award in Arkansas History for his 2022 biography, “Winthrop Rockefeller: From New Yorker to Arkansawyer, 1912-1956.” The award is presented for the best book-length historical study of any aspect of Arkansas history. Kirk received a certificate and a $1,000 prize for the award.

“This is one of the top book awards in Arkansas History,” Kirk said. “It’s the second time I’ve won the award. The last time was 21 years ago for my first Arkansas history monograph, ‘Redefining the Color Line: Black Activism in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1940-1970.’ Ten books later, and with my second Arkansas history monograph, it is nice to revisit and win the J. G. Ragsdale Book Award again.”

Kirk’s biography represents the culmination of 12 years of research. It investigates why Rockefeller, scion of one of the most powerful families in American history, left New York to move to an Arkansas mountaintop in the 1950s. The book covers Rockefeller’s childhood and education, his rise in the oil industry, his military service during World War II, his marriage to and divorce from Barbara “Bobo” Sears, and the birth of his only child, future Arkansas lieutenant governor Win Paul Rockefeller. Kirk tied Rockefeller’s New York life to his later work in his adopted state, where his legacy continues to be felt more than half a century after his governorship.

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In his talk, “,” Kirk will discuss the nine teenagers who were the central figures in the 1957 school desegregation crisis at Little Rock’s Central High School.

In September 1957,  Gov. Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to surround Central High School to prevent the nine students from entering. President Eisenhower later ordered the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock to make sure that the students could attend school.

The Little Rock Nine collectively faced a number of difficult decisions. In the first instance, they decided to attend an historically white school and break down the barriers of segregation. After desegregation, they decided to stay at Central High despite experiencing extreme provocation and intimidation from white students.

It was the Little Rock Nine’s determination to stay the course that forced the hands of the federal courts and President Eisenhower to take action in response.

Kirk is an expert on the civil rights movement and has published 10 books. His works include Beyond Little Rock: The Origins and Legacies of the Central High Crisis and The Civil Rights Movement: A Documentary Reader.

The 2023 program series is made possible courtesy of the Eisenhower Foundation with generous support from the Jeffcoat Memorial Foundation.

Kirk’s talk will begin at 7 p.m. June 13. The event will be shown in the inner courtyard of the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas, and .

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Dr. John Kirk, George W. Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History, co-wrote the paper with his students in the fall 2022 Seminar in Public History class, a capstone course that focuses on collaborative research for students who are earning a Master of Arts in public history at ����Vlog��ý Little Rock.

The authors received their award, which includes a $500 prize and a framed certificate, at the annual meeting of the Arkansas Historical Association on April 14. The Gingles Award is presented to the authors of the best manuscript article on any Arkansas history topic.

Along with Kirk, the ����Vlog��ý Little Rock student authors include Dora Bradley, Revis Edmonds, Emily Housdam, Kristen Miller, Harrison Mitchell, Britney Reding, and Kellie Solomon.

The article, “From Lynching to Legal Lynching, Mob Justice to Courtroom Justice: The Arkansas ‘Scottsboro’ Cases of James X. Caruthers and Clear ‘Bubbles’ Clayton, 1935-1939,” will be published in the Arkansas Historical Quarterly.

The paper examines the criminal cases of James X. Caruthers and Clear “Bubbles” Clayton, two African American farm laborers who were convicted of the rape of a white woman, Virgie Terry, and executed in 1939.

The case drew national attention and became widely known as the Arkansas “Scottsboro” Case for its similarities to an Alabama case that resulted in rape convictions of nine Black teenagers. The Alabama convictions were twice reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court because prosecutors hurried the case to trial without giving the defendants adequate time to prepare a defense and for excluding African Americans from juries. It’s a legal move that might have made all the difference in the Arkansas case.

“The case took place in the shadow of the Scottsboro case,” Kirk said. “The defense attorney in the Arkansas case, Arthur Adams, never objected to the all-white juries used to convict Caruthers and Clayton, which might have saved their lives. It gives us an interesting look at the criminal justice system in Arkansas during the age of segregation.”

Kirk had read about the case in an Encyclopedia of Arkansas article written by Stephen Smith, a professor emeritus of communication at the University of Arkansas. A full journal article has never been written about the case, so Smith provided the class with his sources and encouraged them to pursue the details further.

“I spent quite a bit of time in the area where all of this took place,” said Edmonds, a ����Vlog��ý Little Rock student as well as department historian for the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism. “I was a teacher at Blytheville High School for over 10 years. Many years later, things like this are often not discussed in the community.”

Kirk and the students found the details of the criminal case to be complicated and at times dumbfounding. The two men were originally arrested on suspicion of armed robberies of couples in parked cars and an incident in which Sheriff Clarence Wilson was injured in an attempted robbery near the Blytheville Country Club, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.

While they were never tried for robbery, Caruthers and Clayton were later convicted of raping Virgie Terry. She was allegedly assaulted by masked men on Dec. 21, 1934, while out with her boyfriend, Wiley Bryant.

During their research, the students found that articles in the local newspapers were highly inflammatory against Caruthers and Clayton.

“The newspaper pinned names on them, called them bandits, killers, and rapists,” said Bradley, who is an adjunct professor of history at University of Arkansas – Pulaski Technical Institute. “Each of these articles would taint the minds of the jurors before they were selected as jurors. A lot of the stories were copied and spread across the nation.”

“The media tried to drive the narrative of these men’s guilt even before they had been charged,” Edmonds agreed. “Most of the articles in the Blytheville Courier News were largely slanted toward the prosecution. It almost seemed like the publisher was in an alliance with the prosecutor, who was extremely politically ambitious.”

Although their conviction was appealed on multiple grounds for four years, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear their case. Caruthers’ and Clayton’s last chance would have been clemency granted by then-Gov. Carl Bailey.

“The entire case on appeal would end up in the political realm,” Edmonds said. “The governor had promised to hold a commutation hearing for the two men, but he was out of state attending the world’s fair. The lieutenant governor, Bob Bailey, refused to convene the hearing that the governor had promised.”

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Lytle, associate professor of criminal justice and criminology, won the Faculty Excellence Award in Teaching, sponsored by the Bailey Family. Glazier, professor in the School of Public Affairs, has won the Faculty Excellence Award in Research and Creative Endeavors, sponsored by Dr. Jaafer Golzar and family, while Grace, associate professor of biology, received the Faculty Excellence Award in Public Service.

With the addition of two new awards this year, ����Vlog��ý Little Rock also honored Dr. Mark Baillie, assistant professor of chemistry, as the inaugural recipient of the Rising Faculty Excellence Award, sponsored by the Bowen Family, as well as Dr. John Kirk, George W. Donaghey distinguished professor of history, as the recipient of the Faculty Excellence Award in Social Justice, sponsored by Just Communities of Arkansas.

“Our winners’ dedication to scholarship, teaching, research, public service, and social justice has made a profound impact on our institution and the broader academic community,” Provost Ann Bain said. “They have demonstrated a commitment to excellence that inspires us all and sets a high standard for future generations of educators. On behalf of the university, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to all of the award recipients and thank you for embodying the spirit of excellence that defines our institution.”

����Vlog��ý Little Rock annually celebrates the achievements of the top professors of the year who are making a difference in the community through their contributions in teaching, research and creative works, public service, and social justice. This is the highest honor ����Vlog��ý Little Rock awards its faculty members. Each winning faculty winner will receive a $5,000 prize.

Created in 1989, the Faculty Excellence Awards has provided a way to recognize the great work of ����Vlog��ý Little Rock faculty for the past 34 years and is made possible through the valued contributions of the Office of the Chancellor, the Office of the Provost, the ����Vlog��ý Little Rock Chancellor’s Circle, and the Bailey Foundation.

The ����Vlog��ý Little Rock Board of Visitors selected the university-wide winners from the 19 faculty members who were selected as the top faculty members for the 2022-23 academic year in each of the five categories in their respective colleges and the William H. Bowen School of Law.

Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching

Dr. Robert “Bob” Lytle is an associate professor of criminal justice and criminology, as well as the graduate coordinator for the School of Criminal Justice and Criminology. Lytle has been praised by students and colleagues for his dedication to students and his passion in the classroom.

There are several examples of Lytle’s excellence in teaching. One of those in particular can be found in his instruction of doctoral level statistics courses in the criminal justice and criminology Ph.D. program. Students often find these courses to be daunting and difficult, but students and colleagues alike have praised Lytle for his ability to teach these courses and teach them well.

One student in particular said Lytle transformed a terrifying advanced statistics course into one that was manageable and even enjoyable. Fellow colleagues and students also highlight the labeled binders he creates for each of his statistics students. These binders include everything from the syllabus and extra credit assignments to 125 pages of content written by Lytle concerning material used in the statistics classes and even a statistics refresher. The binder can be used in both upper-level criminal justice and criminology statistics courses, and the binders are built in such a way that they can be reorganized and added to as the student sees fit.

Lytle has also served in several different roles in his seven years at ����Vlog��ý Little Rock. He is also the graduate coordinator for his school and has also served as the school assessment coordinator for over five years. Lytle has chaired thesis committees for five students and served as reader on six additional thesis projects while at ����Vlog��ý Little Rock. He is currently serving as chair on six dissertation committees and as a reader on 14 additional dissertations.

Since 2016, Lytle has published 14 peer reviewed articles, with four of these articles being written in conjunction with students. This shows his dedication in teaching, but also mentoring students in their own research. To culminate, Lytle is currently the co-principal investigator on four external grants and contracts totaling over $1 million. This provides undergraduate and graduate students opportunities to actively engage in research projects that would not be available without Lytle’s dedication to teaching and student success through classroom instruction and research outside the classroom.

Faculty Excellence Award for Research and Creative Endeavors

Dr. Rebecca Glazier is a professor in the School of Public Affairs. She is known for her research on religion and politics, as well as pedagogical research in higher education.

Glazier is noted and praised for the Little Rock Congregations Study (LRCS) she founded 11 years ago. The LRCS is a longitudinal study of religion with goals of improving the understanding of the impacts of faith-based community engagement, getting students out of the classroom and into the community to learn and give back, and providing relevant and meaningful findings to the community. She has received over $30,000 in grants from community groups related to this study, and two of her peer-reviewed articles have been co-authored with students she mentored through the study.

Glazier is also highly committed to the scholarship of teaching and to learning how to improve teaching from students. She has published seven peer-reviewed articles and three book chapters on building rapport in the classroom, along with the book “Connecting in the Online Classroom: Building Rapport between Teachers and Students” with Johns Hopkins University Press (2021). This has made her very influential in the pedagogical circles in higher education. Over the last five years, Glazier has published 20 peer-reviewed articles, three book chapters, and one-solo authored book with several additional pieces of work on the way.

Faculty Excellence Award for Public Service

Dr. Stephen Grace is an associate professor of biology at ����Vlog��ý Little Rock. Grace is a plant physiologist specializing in plant biochemistry and is a founding director of the ����Vlog��ý Little Rock Campus Garden.

The ����Vlog��ý Little Rock Campus Garden was founded in 2013 with the intent to bring together students, staff, faculty, and community members who share an interest in sustainability and gardening. The primary mission of the garden is to create a viable urban farm that provides fresh local food to organizations and individuals and to create an educational facility on urban land use, food studies, and sustainable agriculture for students, faculty, staff, and community members.

As director, Grace oversees service, teaching, and outreach activities, coordinates food delivery to food banks and other organizations, and serves as faculty advisor for the Campus Garden Alliance. The success of the garden has also created several partnerships with internal and external organizations, such as the Trojan Food Pantry, Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, Arkansas Interfaith Power and Light, University District, Full Circle FarmsCorps, as well as several local businesses, such as the Root Cafe, River Valley Horticultural Products, and Arkansas Grown.

Over the past six years, the garden has received grants and funding worth more than $60,000. External funding and grants have been provided by the Pulaski County Conservation District, L’Oreal, ����Vlog��ý Little Rock Alumni Association, and the AHRA Emergency Relief grant. Grace’s work with the garden exemplifies the university’s role within the broader community.

Faculty Excellence Award for Rising Faculty

Dr. Mark Baillie is an assistant professor of chemistry in the School of Physical Sciences at ����Vlog��ý Little Rock. Baillie has been praised for teaching, service, and research and scholarship.

Baillie has focused much of his career on the science of teaching. There are numerous examples of his efforts, but one example is the drastic reduction of DFW rates, the percentage of students in a course or program who receive a D or F grade or who withdraw, in his general chemistry class. His class has less than half the DFW rate observed in traditional classes, but students perform at the same level on the nationally normed standardized exams in the class. This shows there has not been a reduction in class standards.

Baillie brought expertise from the National Institute on Scientific Teaching and with this expertise has provided Mobile Institutes on Scientific Teaching (MoSI) workshops to ����Vlog��ý Little Rock faculty and graduate students. Over the past four years, he has trained 87 faculty members and 18 graduate students. The focus of these workshops is fostering a more engaging learning environment for students through the use of evidence-based practices and active learning. Baillie also co-founded the university’s first Learning Assistant (LA) program in the Chemistry department with the School of Physical Sciences. This program uses students to serve as peer mentors and active learning collaborators. It has also been replicated in other units across campus.

Baillie’s primary scholarship has been on teaching and learning. He led an interdisciplinary team that was awarded a prestigious $2 million NSF grant to promote active learning in STEM classrooms at the university.

Faculty Excellence Award for Social Justice

Dr. John Kirk is the George W. Donaghey distinguished professor of history in the Department of History at ����Vlog��ý Little Rock. He is an internationally recognized scholar of the civil rights movement, and he has worked continually over the years to help the public and students understand the struggle for social justice.

Kirk has taught several courses related to racial justice including the classes Introduction to Race and Ethnicity and Civil Rights Movement since 1954. He also played a key role in establishing the minor in race and ethnicity at ����Vlog��ý Little Rock. Students have praised his courses as transformative, and he has aided students with their own publications on social justice.

Outside the classroom, Kirk is a noted civil rights scholar and advocate for social justice. His scholarship is extensive and includes “The Civil Rights Movement: A Documentary Reader,” a consultancy for a Netflix series on schools and race, a CNN podcast on the 1959 fire at the Arkansas Negro Boys Industrial School, and an AETN documentary on Little Rock’s West 9th Street.

Kirk has produced more than 400 “Arkansas Moments” radio segments, published his work in newspapers and magazines, conducted numerous media interviews, generated racial attitudes reports, and organized several community conferences. On top of this extensive work, he developed the award-winning Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail, which was adopted as part of the national US Civil Rights Trail in 2018.

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