Religious Figures

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White woman in white top
Grace Evelyn Reese Adkins (1884–1973)
Grace Evelyn Reese Adkins devoted most of her considerable energy and talents as a teacher, writer, composer, ...
Old white man with glasses in suit and tie
Cyrus Adler (1863–1940)
Cyrus Adler was a scholar, editor, and Jewish leader with a lifetime commitment to the study of Jewish history...
white man in embroidered black shirt and white woman in turtleneck and white jacket smiling in front of trees "Tony and Susan Alamo Tony Alamo sings Mister DJ"
Tony Alamo (1934–2017)
aka: Tony Alamo Christian Ministries
Tony Alamo was a well-known evangelist who, after a radical convers...
Bearded white man in formal dress
George Washington Baines (1809–1882)
George W. Baines was a prominent nineteenth-century Southern Baptist minister, teacher, Arkansas politician, a...
Old white man with glasses smiling in shirt and tie with pens in pocket protector
James David Bales (1915–1995)
aka: J. D. Bales
From 1944 to 1980, James David Bales was a professor of Bible and t...
Memorial with crucifix and Jesus figure over tile base with plaque and wrought iron detailed floral columns
Pietro Bandini (1852–1917)
Father Pietro Bandini, a Roman Catholic priest, is most widely remembered in Arkansas for the 1898 founding of...
Young dark-haired white man in clerical collar
Joseph Henri Biltz (1930–1987)
The Reverend Joseph H. Biltz, a Roman Catholic priest and human rights activist, was a staunch supporter of so...
African-American man with mustache and glasses smiling in striped suit and tie
Charles E. Blake (1940–)
Charles Edward Blake Sr. is the presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC). He is also pastor of ...
Painting of older white woman in black with black hair with brooch in red chair
Frances Isaiah Isaacs (Fanny) Block (1796–1871)
Frances (Fanny) Block was the matriarch of the first documented Jewish family to immigrate to what became the ...
White man on steps looking upward in three piece suit with long jacket holding hat
Benjamin Marcus Bogard (1868–1951)
Benjamin Marcus Bogard, founder and head of the American Baptist Association, was Arkansas’s leading fundame...
African-American man with mustache in suit and tie
Joseph Albert Booker (1859–1926)
Joseph Albert Booker—noted editor, educator, and community leader—was for four decades a prominent leader ...
White woman in priest's uniform with white collar
Peggy Sue Bosmyer (1948–2008)
When the Reverend Dr. Peggy Bosmyer was ordained in January 1977 at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Little Rock...
Fountain Brown (1806?–1865?)
Fountain Brown was a Methodist preacher who was the first person to be charged and found guilty of violating t...
Robert Raymond Brown (1910–1994)
The Right Reverend Robert Raymond Brown was the ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas. He became n...
white man in clerical collar
William Montgomery Brown (1855–1937)
The colorful William Montgomery Brown was consecrated as the assistant bishop of the Diocese of Arkansas on Ju...
White man in bishop's robes wearing a cross necklace
Andrew Byrne (1802–1862)
Andrew Byrne was the first Roman Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Little Rock, which then and now encompasses...
"A $10,000 endowment for Woodland College" newspaper article
Cornelius Tyree Carpenter (1874–1945)
Cornelius Tyree (C. T.) Carpenter was an educator, minister, and attorney in northeastern Arkansas. In additio...
Young white woman with dark hair wearing a formal dress
Sarah Esther Case (1868–1932)
Sarah Esther Case was the first woman from Arkansas to be called as a foreign missionary by the Methodist Epis...
White man with white hair and sideburns
Circuit Riders
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, some ministers served multiple churches spread out over an are...
faded black and white photo of older white woman with round glasses in dress and necklace and a braided bun
Alida Clawson Clark (1823-1892)
Alida Clawson Clark, an Indiana Quaker who co-founded Southland College, arrived in Arkansas with her husband,...
Ebenezer Lee (E. L.) Compere (1833–1895)
Ebenezer Lee (E. L.) Compere was the son of pioneer Baptist missionary Lee Compere, who came to Arkansas betwe...
White man and woman wearing a bonnet
Lee Compere (1790–1871)
Baptist missionary Lee Compere did missionary work with the Creek Nation in Georgia and Alabama. He later join...
African-American man with glasses smiling in tuxedo
James Hal Cone (1938–2018)
James Hal Cone became known as the father of Black liberation theology, which he described as a “theological...
Old white man in overalls with hammer and old white woman in checkered dress
"Preacher" Doke (1833–1919)
aka: Nathaniel Mattox Doke
Nathaniel Mattox “Preacher” Doke was a Benton County pioneer, e...
James Francis Drane (1930–2023)
James F. Drane was one of the founding figures of biomedical ethics. He was a Roman Catholic priest and profes...
Promotional photograph of white man woman and 19 young and teen children standing together with white text
Duggar Family
aka: 19 and Counting [Television Show]
aka: Counting On [Television Show]
The Duggars are an Arkansas family who became famous on the TLC net...
White man wearing a hat and suit sitting in a horse drawn buggy
Edward Mary Fitzgerald (1833–1907)
Edward Mary Fitzgerald was the second Roman Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Little Rock, overseeing a dioces...
White man in bishop's robes sitting with curtains behind him
Albert Lewis Fletcher (1896–1979)
Albert Lewis Fletcher was the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Little Rock, the only Catholic diocese for the s...
Nicolas Foucault (1664?–1702)
Nicolas Foucault was the first Christian missionary to serve among the Quapaw Indians of Arkansas. Nicolas Fou...
White man in robes and collar
George Washington Freeman (1789–1858)
George Washington Freeman was an Episcopal clergyman who served from 1844 to 1858 as the second missionary bis...
David Crockett (D. C.) Graham (1884–1961)
David Crockett (D. C.) Graham was a Baptist missionary and pioneer anthropologist in southwestern China. Over...
White man in priest's garb
Lawrence Preston Graves (1916–1994)
Lawrence Preston Graves served as the second auxiliary Roman Catholic bishop for the Diocese of Little Rock, w...