The Life of an Ozarks African-American Frontier Industrialist Unearthed

Published April 20, 2022 at 1:30 PM CDT

Rock Van Winkle.jpg — The only known photograph of Aaron “Rock” Van Winkle, standing behind Peter Van Winkle’s spouse, Temperance, outside a Roger’s home circa 1899.

The little-known history of Black pioneer Aaron "Rock" Van Winkle — who was instrumental in operating one of the first and most productive lumber mills on the Arkansas Ozarks — is chronicled in the latest edition of the Arkansas Historical Quarterly, coauthored by historian Christopher Huggard and sociologist Jerry Harris Moore.

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Jacqueline Froelich

Jacqueline Froelich is an investigative journalist and has been a news producer for KUAF National Public Radio since 1998. She covers politics, the environment, energy, business, education, history, race and culture. Her radio segments have been nationally syndicated. She is also a station-based national correspondent for NPR in Washington DC., and recipient of eight national and state broadcast awards.

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