Delta Civil Rights Legacy Trail

The Delta Civil Rights Legacy Trail is a website-centered project that shines a spotlight on the important role that Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) played in the civil rights movement in Arkansas. With most of the commonly remembered history centered in Little Rock (Pulaski County), especially the desegregation of Central High School in 1957, other important efforts have sometimes been overshadowed. The Delta Legacy Trail is an effort to address that oversight.

The Delta Civil Rights Legacy Trail is prominently featured by Pine Bluff in civic and tourist materials, and it has received favorable coverage in some travel-focused media (although the headline in one complimentary article touted “Pine Bluff, Arizona”). The website asserts that, in its fight for equal rights for African Americans, the city “boasts civil rights credentials on par with Selma, Little Rock, and Montgomery,” noting that it witnessed the same type of “boycotts, sit-ins, demonstrations, and bombings” as other more familiar sites.

The collection of short, informative video presentations on the website highlight a range of figures whose ties to Arkansas are meaningful but often not well known, such as Black Panther Bobby Hutton, a Pine Bluff native; civil rights attorneys Wiley Branton, James Nabrit Jr., and Vernon Jordan; and the Howards—George Howard, a pioneering attorney and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) leader, and his daughter Sarah Howard, who at fifteen was subjected to physical and verbal abuse when she integrated Dollarway High School in 1963.

The stops on the virtual trail also include events and sites of importance such as Ray’s Truck Stop, where the arrest of activist/entertainer Dick Gregory followed his address to a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) meeting, and Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical, and Normal College—now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB)—where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave the 1958 commencement address.

For additional information:
Delta Civil Rights Legacy Trail. https://www.explorepinebluff.com/delta-civil-rights-legacy-trail (accessed April 16, 2024).

“Explore History and the Great Outdoors in Pine Bluff, Arizona [sic].” Travel South (Fall 2020). https://travelsouthmag.com/2020/08/explore-history-and-the-great-outdoors-in-pine-bluff-arizona/ (accessed April 16, 2024).

Schnedler, Jack. “Arkansas Sightseeing: Delta Civil Rights Legacy Trail Tracks Historic Sites of the Civil Rights Movement through Pine Bluff.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, January 10, 2023, pp. 1E, 6E. https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2023/jan/10/marking-a-legacy/ (accessed April 16, 2024).

“Uncover Pine Bluff’s Rich Culture and History in Virtual Visit.” AY Magazine, August 20, 2020. https://aymag.com/uncover-pine-bluff-virtual-visit/ (accessed April 16, 2024).

William H. Pruden III
Ravenscroft School