Issues & Controversies

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White man in suit and tie smiling with Arkansas flag behind him
Act 975 of 2015
aka: Religious Freedom Restoration Act
The Arkansas Religious Freedom Restoration Act (SB975 of the 2015 r...
Albert Krantz v. City of Fort Smith
aka: Krantz v. City of Fort Smith
Albert Krantz v. City of Fort Smith was a 1998 decision by the Eigh...
Portrait white man suit, tie, glasses, reading from paper by "KCHI" microphone
Anti-Catholicism
Organized prejudice against Roman Catholics was a recurring theme in American history from colonial days throu...
Green and yellow logo with black and green text
Anti-Semitism
Relations between Jews and the rest of the population were generally amicable throughout the South in the nine...
Appeal of the Arkansas Exiles to Christians throughout the World
The “Appeal of the Arkansas Exiles to Christians throughout the World” was a plea for assistance written b...
Drawing of baby inside heart with heart monitor lines framed by Arkansas state text "#1 Pro-Life State Two Years in a Row!"
Arkansas Right to Life
Arkansas Right to Life is a nonprofit organization whose stated purpose is to “educate through the presentat...
Book cover featuring white woman in a brown outfit with title "Becoming Free Indeed"
Becoming Free Indeed
Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear is a 2023 memoir by Jinger Duggar Vuolo, one o...
Clergy Sexual Abuse
Since 2002, when the public became widely aware of sexual abuse of minors by clergy members, an international ...
Continental Trailways Bus Hijacking of July 3, 1982
A young couple who believed they would be resurrected died in a murder-suicide on the Little Buffalo River Bri...
"Wants inspection bill" newspaper clipping
Convent Inspection Act of 1915
aka: Act 130 of 1915
aka: Posey Act
The Convent Inspection Act was passed by the Arkansas General Assem...
White man in suit and tie standing before wooden bookshelves
Doe v. Human
Doe v. Human was a 1989 federal court case involving a challenge to the Gravette (Benton County) school distri...
Grannis Vigil
On September 29, 1975, in the tiny town of Grannis (Polk County), a group of approximately twenty-five residen...
Johnson v. State (1942)
Six months before the United States went to war with Japan and Germany in 1941, but as war hysteria was buildi...
White man in suit and tie looking to the side with his arm and finger raised
Jonesboro Church Wars
The Jonesboro Church Wars were a series of early 1930s religious conflicts within the Baptist community of Jon...
White man with long beard in suit and tie
The Liberator
The Liberator was an anti-Catholic weekly newspaper published in Magnolia (Columbia County) from 1912 to 1915....
White man in green sweater with yellow blazer
Little Rock Debates on Evolution (1966)
The “Great Evolution Debate,” as it was billed, was held in Little Rock (Pulaski County) on June 28–29, ...
March on Religious Freedom (1993)
aka: March on Fort God
In summer 1993 in northeastern Arkansas, three teenagers, later kno...
white stone monument with pointed top labeled "The Mountain Meadows Massacre" in front of multistory brick building
Mountain Meadows Massacre
In April 1857, near Harrison (Boone County), 120 to 150 settlers, mostly Arkansans, started a journey toward t...
white rectangular stone with "Parley Parker Pratt" at top surrounded by black iron fence
Parley P. Pratt (Murder of)
Parley Parker Pratt, an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of ...
White man with short hair in suit and tie
Hay Watson Smith (1868–1940)
Hay Watson Smith, a Little Rock (Pulaski County) Presbyterian minister, was a leading opponent of the movement...