Arkansas History

Tommie Flowers Davis gathered signatures to protect the Fayetteville neighborhood she grew up in. The City Council unanimously approved the Black Historic District on Aug. 4.

Emma Makowski walks through the Chaffee Barbershop and Military Museum in Fort Smith: a World War II trench exhibit, refugee history, Elvis Presley's Army buzz cut.

Historian Jared Phillips traces the origins of the Prairie Grove Clothesline Fair, the Cane Hill Harvest Festival plus the War Eagle Craft Fair, all born of a postwar push to keep Ozark crafts alive.

Kevin Kinder traces Fayetteville's live music history for the next Ozarks at Small talk, from a 1957 campaign gig at George's Majestic Lounge to a city law that kept music off Dickson Street.

Jared Phillips discusses the UofA's new Ozarks Studies minor, an interdisciplinary program launching this fall that asks students to study the region they live in through more than stereotypes.

Randy Dixon continues the Pryor Center series on Arkansas' modern governors with Orval Faubus, using KATV footage, a Hillary Clinton interview and claims about Hot Springs gambling.

A Battle of Sicily anniversary highlights Fort Chaffee's connection to the Allied campaign in Italy, including the service and sacrifice of Army nurse Ellen Ainsworth.

Randy Dixon continues a Pryor Center series on Arkansas' modern governors with Francis Cherry, whose newly donated 1950s campaign jingles, oil-industry speech and farewell address reveal a radio pioneer who never connected with voters.

Randy Dixon opens a Pryor Center series on Arkansas' modern governors with Sid McMath, whose 1949 inaugural film, 1962 comeback bid, later interviews survive in the KATV archive.

Historian Jared Phillips traces Arkansas' booze history, from 1830s wineries to a dry state in 1915 to the 2003 law that launched today's craft beer boom.