Forrest City Cemetery

The Forrest City Colored Cemetery, located in the eastern Arkansas city of Forrest City (St. Francis County), dates its earliest interments to 1889. It is unclear how many graves are in the cemetery; the most recent burial was in 1961. The cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 21, 2021. The cemetery is also known as the Purifoy Cemetery. 

Bounded by private property on multiple sides and active railroad tracks on the west, the site is located along Crowley’s Ridge. At the time of the National Register nomination of the property in 2021, the site was accessible only through climbing uphill through thick brush. The exact dimensions of the site are unknown, but it covers at least one acre. Some materials remain from what was likely a fence, including wooden and iron posts. 

Several large plots in the cemetery contain the remains of members of the Purifoy, Williams, and Blount families. The Purifoy plot is surrounded by a fence made from metal pipes atop concrete coping.  

Burials in the cemetery include Josiah Homer Blount, an African American owner of a brickyard and prominent member of the Republican Party. He ran for governor in 1920, on a ticket that split from the white-controlled Republican Party in the state and received more than eight percent of the vote. This proved to be the most successful Black gubernatorial campaign nationwide until the election of Douglas Wilder in Virginia in 1989. His marker includes images of an urn and an open Bible. At the time of the nomination of the site to the National Register, the monument had been separated from the base.  

Wallace Leon Purifoy, a graduate of Philander Smith College and a long-time school administrator, is also buried in the cemetery. Purifoy served as the chair of the state convention that nominated Blount for governor. His grave is shared with his wife, Fannie Jane Purifoy. The cross-shaped marker includes Wallace’s name and birth and death years on the left arm of the cross, while Fannie’s information is on the right arm, and their last name is carved vertically down the center of the cross. The arm with Wallace’s name was at some point knocked off the marker onto the ground.  

A survey of the cemetery found at least ten markers for men who served in World War I, including William Wise Jr., a corporal in the 371st Infantry Regiment, which saw service in multiple battles; Arthur Ankrum, who served with the 162nd Depot Brigade, and James Pullman, served as a cook during the war and died from influenza during the postwar flu pandemic in 1919.  

The cemetery includes the remains of Black residents of Forrest City and St. Francis County from a wide range of backgrounds. Efforts to preserve the cemetery are ongoing, although extensive work runs the risk of damaging or destroying graves, as mentioned in the National Register nomination form. Access to the cemetery is limited. 

For additional information:
Clancy, Sean. “A Buried Past: Overgrown Cemetery Holds Little Known History of Once Prominent Black Arkansans.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, January 25, 2021, pp. 1D, 6D. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/jan/25/a-buried-past/ (accessed January 30, 2025). 

“Forrest City Colored Cemetery.” National Register of Historic Places registration form. On file at Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas. Online at https://www.arkansasheritage.com/docs/default-source/ahpp-documents/sf0115.nr8a05ec1d-ab05-4de2-b2de-070cb724ea3c.pdf?sfvrsn=72ef9f0e_3 (accessed January 30, 2025).  

David Sesser
Southeastern Louisiana University