One-room schoolhouses

The Stone Schoolhouse in Independence County is one of many old one-room schoolhouses still standing and in use across Arkansas.


One-room schoolhouses are a thing of the past, but decades ago the buildings were the center of the community. Built in the early part of the 20th century, the remaining little schoolhouses hearken back to a time when life was lived in tiny communities and revolved around school, church, and neighbors.

In days gone by, one- and two-room schoolhouses were scattered every few miles and children walked to get there every day. Many only went up to eighth grade with just one or two teachers for the entire school. In the two-room schools, one teacher instructed children in first to fourth grade, and the fifth to eighth grade children had another teacher.

The memories that took place at these small schoolhouses are still strong in the minds of those who attended.

“A lot of national history goes back to that place,” E.R. Coleman said magnanimously of the Stone Schoolhouse where he got his early education. To prove it, he’s collecting memories — about 500 pages worth — that he may publish someday.

You can read more about the Stone County Schoolhouse in Independence County and about quite a few other one-room schoolhouses around the state on my website Arkansas Profiles.

Desha School in Independence County


Jamestown School in Independence County


Maxville School in Sharp County

Poughkeepsie School in Sharp County

These are some of the photographs of old school buildings in Arkansas that I have taken over the last few years. I will share more of them with you in the days and weeks to come.

Integration of Hoxie schools

The schools in Hoxie weren't the first to integrate but were the first to be met with active resistance. The fight took place mostly in the courtroom and went on for months.

The first day of integration in Hoxie was July 11, 1955, a year after the court decision Brown vs. Board of Education declared segregation unconstitutional but more than two years before the infamous Central High School fiasco that took place in September 1957.

A small group of opposers collected outside the school for the first morning of integration, but the first few days and weeks went relatively smoothly. "Life" magazine was there to document the event. Public reaction to the photos that were published by the magazine on July 25 was swift and quite negative.

Seeing the black and white students together in the photos incited the town's segregationists, who launched an attack against the school board. Numerous white citizen groups were formed to oppose integration, with their underlying fear being that integrated schools would ultimately lead to intermarriage.

In researching and preparing to write a piece on Hoxie's integration for STAND News last fall, I communicated with Ms. Fayth Hill Washington. As one of the students who had been part of the integration back in 1955, her comments shed great light on the situation.

This experience in Hoxie was desegregation, in my opinion, verses an integration. I say that because even after things leveled off, we were not integrated into the school or the State. We remained segregated, unable to participate in any extra-curricular activities outside of the school, including choir trips, and sports. The 25 African American students were pioneers and faced many challenges and experiences. One challenge was trying to become a part of something you know nothing about with a benchmark. There were no African American teachers anywhere and [there was an] obvious lack of preparation for the experience and transition plan for the 25 African American students. The white teachers did not know how to teach us, as they did not know anything about us, our culture or what was offensive to us.

Ms. Washington had many other enlightening comments that I hope to share with you here and on my website Arkansas Profiles.

In the meantime, the Encyclopedia of Arkansas has some insightful information on this event.

Remembering Brinkley

While going through some of my things this past weekend, I ran across something I hadn't seen in a while — a soft-bound, two-volume history of Brinkley, my hometown. What a treasure.

"A Brinkley Remembrancer" and "A Brinkley Remembrancer Part 2," the volumes were written and produced by Bill Sayger, the director of the Central Delta Depot Museum.

The cover of the first volume has a sketch of Robert C. Brinkley, the railroad official for whom the town was named. The second volume's cover features a photo of two Brinkley sons, Louis Jordan and his father, Jim Jordan.

In the coming weeks I hope to share with you some of the gems from these publications.

King of Ragtime

Many people have heard the famous score "The Entertainer," but it may come as a surprise to many that its composer, Scott Joplin was both African-American and lived in Arkansas for a time. Billed as the "King of Ragtime," he was born in Texas and lived in Texarkana.

He also lived for a time in Sedalia, Mo., now the home of the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival. Good music and fun will be going on there this coming week at the 28th annual festival from June 4-8.

Here's a great source for some information about Joplin: http://www.scottjoplin.org.

Stax Museum of American Soul Music

The Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis is the only soul music museum in the world. I made a trip to the museum a couple of years ago with a group from East Arkansas Community College in Forrest City.

One of the many displays features Al Green, a native of Forrest City.

Read the resulting story that was published in the newspaper and be sure to read my personal account of the day —

Stax Museum of American Soul Music

Historical sites to see

The Arkansas State Capitol is one of the places on our list of historical sites to see this summer.


With summer quickly approaching, the kids and I are making a list of fun, free things to do in Little Rock/North Little Rock this summer. Several historical sites are on the list and I hope to add some more. We've visited some of them already but the kids enjoyed everything so much and have been asking to go back. A few of the historical sites already on our list are:

*Central High School Visitors' Center
*Old Mill
*Old State House Museum
*State Capitol

There is a nice listing of free attractions in the Little Rock area here: http://www.littlerock.com/media/free-things.asp.