Entries - Entry Type: Group - Starting with L

The Latino population in Arkansas, which began its rapid growth in the 1980s, has created significant political, economic, and social modifications within the state. Latino food and music, as well as bilingualism, have become common in several regions of the state. Numerous industries and economic ventures have prospered since the mid-1990s due in large part to the contributions of the immigrant workforce. The Latino influence has changed many towns and cities dramatically. In cities such as Rogers (Benton County) and Springdale (Washington and Benton counties), Latinos make up more than thirty percent of the total population, creating a cultural impact in the area. Latino restaurants and businesses with Spanish signage are now seen in many Arkansas towns and cities. In …

The League of Women Voters (LWV), a nonpartisan political organization, encourages informed, active participation in government for all citizens. Although it never supports or opposes any party or candidate, it seeks to influence public policy through education and advocacy. The national League of Women Voters Education Fund is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization that coordinates elections and educational outreach. The League of Women Voters of Arkansas first formed in 1920. However, it folded and reemerged two times, with the last incarnation forming in 1953, organized by Esther Clark. By 2012, in addition to the state league, there were also five local leagues, in Benton County, Fairfield Bay (Van Buren and Cleburne counties), Fort Smith (Sebastian County), Pulaski County, and Washington …

The post-Reconstruction “Redemption” era witnessed Democratic Party forces sweeping Republicans from all branches of state government in Arkansas. Their regime instituted so-called progressive reforms such as the Election Law of 1891, which disenfranchised many African-American voters, who traditionally supported the Republican Party. From the late 1890s onward, the stigmatized biracial Republican Party remained hopeless underdogs in every statewide electoral contest—and most local ones. Practically the only way Republicans could hope to hold public office remained through federal political patronage appointments. Former governor and state Republican Party leader Powell Clayton controlled the distribution of these federal civil service jobs, which he extended to supporters including African Americans who won his confidence during Reconstruction. By the 1880s, distinct friction had developed between …

The Little Rock Censor Board operated in Arkansas’s capital city for nearly seventy years trying to regulate forms of entertainment—from literature to movies—to protect citizens from influences perceived to be immoral. As social mores changed and the legality of the board was challenged, it saw its influence diminish, until it quietly disbanded. In the early twentieth century, officials around the country attempted to censor salacious or obscene materials. For example, Memphis’s Board of Censors, created in 1911, was notorious for its harsh rulings, and Maryland established its censor board in 1916, which remained influential until its demise in 198l. The Little Rock Censor Board was created in 1911 by Mayor John S. Odom and the city council in response to …

The Little Rock Garden Club (LRGC) held its first meeting in 1923 at the home of Mrs. J. N. Heiskell (Wilhelmina Mann Heiskell). Other charter members were Mrs. J. F. Loughborough (Louise Loughborough), Mrs. J. W. House (Julia Clarke House), Mrs. Moorehead Wright (Hildegarde “Hillie” Penzel Wright), Mrs. George R. Mann (Carrie Rock Mann), Frances Van Etten, Mrs. Shelby England (Lita England), Mrs. W. D. Cammack (Katherine Broaddus Cammack), Mrs. Homer Scott, and Mrs. Robert Butterfield (Alvan Butterfield). In 1929, the club became a member of the National Garden Clubs, Inc. In 1931, it was a founder of the Arkansas Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc., and in 1960 became a member of the Garden Club of America. In 1928, under …

The Little Rock Nine were the nine African American students involved in the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School. Their entrance into the school in 1957 sparked a nationwide crisis when Arkansas governor Orval Faubus, in defiance of a federal court order, called out the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the Nine from entering. President Dwight D. Eisenhower responded by federalizing the National Guard and sending in units of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division to escort the Nine into the school on September 25, 1957. The military presence remained for the duration of the school year. Before transferring to Central, the Nine attended segregated schools for Black students in Little Rock (Pulaski County). Carlotta Walls, Jefferson Thomas, and …

The Little Rock (Pulaski County) chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) was organized in 1974 is an advocacy group dedicated to women’s rights and issues. The two waves of the American women’s movement are among the most significant social changes of the twentieth century. The first wave culminated in 1920 when the Nineteenth Amendment gave American women voting rights. The second wave was shaped by and identified with the National Organization for Women, established in 1966 in Washington DC. Led by founding President Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique (1963), NOW pledged to “take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society.” NOW promoted “consciousness raising”—small group discussions of women’s common concerns—followed by …

Little Rock Scripture Study (LRSS), a former ministry of the Diocese of Little Rock that develops Roman Catholic Bible study materials, began as a plan to provide Bible study for interested Catholics in central Arkansas. By 2009, Little Rock Scripture Study materials were used in 7,500 Catholic parishes across the United States and fifty-four countries around the world. Tammy and Fred Woell of Little Rock (Pulaski County), along with Jerome Kodell, a Benedictine priest who later became the abbot of Subiaco Abbey, organized a group to begin planning the Bible study. The group sponsored its first Bible study in the fall of 1974, using a twelve-week study guide and commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, written by Kodell. Fifty …

Living Sacrifice is a Christian death metal band from Little Rock (Pulaski County) that has paved the way for Christian metal as a genre. The group gets its name from the Bible, Romans 12:1, which reads: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Living Sacrifice was formed in 1989 by bassist and vocalist Darren (D. J.) Johnson, drummer Lance Garvin, and guitarist Bruce Fitzhugh. Guitarist Jason Truby joined the band shortly after its founding. Fitzhugh and Garvin are the only members to have stayed in the band throughout its many changes in membership and sound, as …

Lutherans have lived in Arkansas since the end of the eighteenth century, although the first Lutheran churches in the state were not built until the 1860s. There are not as many Lutherans in Arkansas as there are in the Great Lakes and northern Prairie states, but they are part of the blend of cultures and faiths of Arkansas. History of Lutheranism Lutherans are named for Martin Luther (1483–1546), an Augustinian friar and university professor who lived and worked in Wittenberg, Saxony (now part of Germany). Luther did not intend to create a new church, but rather to reform (or correct) the church of his time. In his teaching and preaching, Luther proclaimed the mottos “Grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone.” …