Consolidated White River Academy

The Consolidated White River Academy in Brinkley was founded the late 1800s so that African-American students in the area could finish high school.

A number of African-American church groups created the academy so that a Christian education following the model of Tuskegee Institute would be available to young people who at that time had extremely limited opportunities to get an education.

An excellent piece about the Consolidated White River Academy can be found at the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas. It was written by my high school history teacher and a young lady who freelanced at the local paper in our hometown when I was the editor.