A New Voice Taken Away: The African American Political Experience in Post-Reconstruction Arkansas Politics

This second blog from Special Collections intern Craig Huddleston examines the end of Reconstruction in Arkansas, the rise of explicitly racist government and the last African American legislators to hold elected office prior to the modern Civil Rights Era. …Continue Reading A New Voice Taken Away: The African American Political Experience in Post-Reconstruction Arkansas Politics

Thanksgiving Holiday for Arkansas…145 Years Ago

Governor Clayton Thanksgiving Proclamation

November 24, 1870, amidst the turmoil of Reconstruction as Arkansas faced political strife and violence from terror groups such as the KKK, Governor Powell Clayton proclaimed a Thanksgiving holiday for every Arkansan. This proclamation held in Special Collections was published just seven years after President Lincoln had created the official federal holiday to be celebrated every November. …Continue Reading Thanksgiving Holiday for Arkansas…145 Years Ago