Entry Type: Group

State Association of Missionary Baptist Churches of Arkansas

aka: Arkansas State Baptist Association
The State Association of Missionary Baptist Churches of Arkansas (also known as the Arkansas State Baptist Association), an organization representing some 600 Landmark Missionary Baptist Churches in Arkansas, was formed as a result of a dispute that arose in the 1890s among Baptists across the South concerning the nature of the church and the role of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in local congregational affairs. Many Baptists, especially the followers the Landmark principles set down by James R. Graves and James M. Pendleton earlier in the century, came to see the convention system, with its expanding system of boards and commissions, as a threat to local church impendence. Led by clergymen such as William A. Clark and Ben M. Bogard, …

States’ Rights Democratic Party

aka: Dixiecrats
The States’ Rights Democratic Party, popularly known as the Dixiecrats, mounted an unsuccessful third-party bid for the presidency in 1948. This effort was rooted in opposition to the shift in the national Democratic Party’s stance on the issue of civil rights, making Arkansas an important battleground in the 1948 presidential election. The combination of the fall 1947 release of the report of the President’s Commission on Civil Rights (titled “To Secure These Rights”), President Harry Truman’s January address on civil rights, and Truman’s executive order desegregating the armed forces served to bring the issue of race to the forefront of political concerns as 1948 elections approached. Also during this time, federal court rulings had invalidated the Democratic Party’s historic white …

Stephens Inc.

Stephens Inc. of Little Rock (Pulaski County), a privately owned investment bank, is among Arkansas’s most prominent businesses. The company, one of the nation’s largest investment banks not based on Wall Street, was founded in 1933 by Prattsville (Grant County) native W. R. “Witt” Stephens as the W. R. Stephens Investment Co. Witt Stephens’s younger brother, Jackson T. (Jack) Stephens, joined the company in 1946 and went on to serve as chairman and chief executive officer from 1956 to 1986. Since 1986, Jack Stephens’s youngest son, Warren Stephens, has served as CEO. Witt Stephens was a regional manager based in Colorado for National Crafts Co. when his father, a farmer who served two terms in the Arkansas House of Representatives, …

Stop This Outrageous Purge (STOP)

A hastily formed organization created during the “Lost Year” of 1958–59—in which Little Rock (Pulaski County) public schools were closed in the wake of the desegregation crisis at Little Rock Central High School—Stop This Outrageous Purge (STOP) emerged as a powerful local counterweight to segregationists. The group successfully challenged the dominance of segregationists on the Little Rock School Board, and their efforts marked a turning point in the city’s desegregation controversy. In September 1958, citing the recent passage of state laws designed to avoid further integration, Governor Orval Faubus closed Little Rock’s four high schools: Central High, Hall High, Little Rock Technical High, and Horace Mann. Black and white students were thus denied public education for an entire school year. …

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was one of the most radical civil rights organizations operating in the South in the 1960s. Composed largely of young people, the organization advocated group-centered leadership as opposed to the more hierarchical structure favored by groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). SNCC members participated in various protest activities designed to dismantle segregation and to increase African-American voter registration. Activists moved to the communities they sought to serve, living among local black residents and attempting to identify and empower local leaders. The group sponsored major projects in four Southern states, including Arkansas. SNCC came to Arkansas in 1962 at the behest …

Students United for Rights and Equality (SURE)

Students United for Rights and Equality (SURE) was a student civil rights organization at Southern State College (SSC) in Magnolia (Columbia County), now Southern Arkansas University (SAU). College authorities disbanded the group in 1969. The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that action in an important case upholding First Amendment rights of campus organizations and students. SURE was founded by black and white students on October 28, 1968, as an act of racial solidarity. Ernest Pickings, an African American, served as president. By design, black and white students shared other offices. The organization quickly grew to become one of the campus’s largest, with about as many white as black members. Controversy began in December 1968 when SURE sent a …

Supreme Royal Circle of Friends of the World

aka: Royal Circle of Friends
The Supreme Royal Circle of Friends of the World, also known as the Royal Circle of Friends (RCF), was an African-American fraternal organization founded in 1909 in Helena (Phillips County). The organization was founded to supply insurance to the African-American population but was also dedicated to the moral, physical, social, and economic welfare of its members. Men and women were equal members. From the beginning, the RCF grew rapidly across the Southern states and soon spread across the nation. In 1944, the membership was quoted by a Chicago, Illinois, newspaper as being in excess of 100,000. Dr. Richard A. Williams was the founding Supreme President and held that position until his death in 1944. Williams was born in Forrest City …

Tenth Arkansas Infantry/Tenth Arkansas Cavalry (CS)

Two units known as the Tenth Arkansas Cavalry served in the Confederate army during the Civil War. Both served in the state late in the war and saw action in a number of engagements. A third unit known as Crawford’s First Arkansas Cavalry received an official designation as the Tenth Arkansas Cavalry but operated almost exclusively under the former name rather than the latter. The first unit known as the Tenth Arkansas Cavalry began service as the Tenth Arkansas Infantry Regiment. Organized at Springfield (Conway County) in July 1861, the regiment consisted of companies from Conway, Van Buren, and Perry counties. Thomas Merrick served as the first colonel of the regiment. Merrick served as a general officer in the pre-war …

Thea Foundation

Paul and Linda Leopoulos founded the Thea Foundation in 2001, six months after their seventeen-year-old daughter Thea Kay Leopoulos died in a car accident. The nonprofit foundation’s mission is based on the idea that young people achieve confidence and personal success due to involvement with the arts. The Leopouloses found this to be true of their daughter, and they wanted other young people to benefit from the arts as Thea had. The Thea Foundation’s scholarship program awards Arkansas high school seniors based on their hard work and artistic talents. The twenty-eight scholarships in the categories of visual and performing arts, short film, creative writing, and poetry slam are not based on test scores or GPAs, nor do the students have …

Third Arkansas Cavalry (CS)

The Third Arkansas Cavalry Regiment was a Confederate unit that served in the Western Theater during the American Civil War. Serving under commanders Major General Joseph Wheeler and Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest, it fought with the Army of Tennessee in all its major engagements until surrender at Greensboro, North Carolina, on April 26, 1865. The regiment was organized on June 10, 1861, as the First (Borland’s) Battalion Arkansas Cavalry and mustered into Confederate service on July 27 as the First Regiment Arkansas Volunteers. Led by Colonel Solon Borland, it consisted of companies from Conway, Crittenden, Dallas, Hot Springs, Ouachita, Perry, Pope, Pulaski, Saline, White, and Yell counties. On January 15, 1862, it was re-designated as the Third Arkansas Cavalry …

Third Arkansas Cavalry (US)

The Third Arkansas Cavalry organized in October 1863 at Little Rock (Pulaski County). It became one of four Union cavalry regiments raised in Arkansas during the Civil War. In total, 8,289 white Arkansans joined the Federal service to struggle against their neighbors and the Confederacy. Abraham H. Ryan was promoted from captain of the Seventeenth Regiment of Illinois Infantry Volunteers to the colonel of the Third Arkansas, which mustered into service on February 10, 1864. On April 5, 1864, Special Order No. 6 commanded Colonel Ryan to take charge of all the troops at Lewisburg (Conway County), Dardanelle (Yell County), and the vicinity. Lewisburg, a small town located on the north bank of the Arkansas River, became the station for …

Third Arkansas Infantry (African Descent) (US)

aka: Fifty-Sixth United States Colored Troops
The Third Arkansas Infantry Regiment (African Descent) was a Civil War regiment primarily composed of formerly enslaved men that saw most of its service in and around Helena (Phillips County). The recruiting of African American military units to serve in the Union army was approved with the creation of the U.S. War Department’s Bureau of Colored Troops on May 22, 1863. Officers of the units were white, but Black men could serve as non-commissioned officers. At least seven regiments of Black troops and two Black artillery batteries served in Arkansas. The Third Arkansas Infantry Regiment (African Descent) was organized at St. Louis, Missouri, on August 12, 1863, though Company H was recruited at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The “companies [were] forwarded to …

Third Arkansas Light Artillery (CS)

aka: Jackson Light Artillery
The Third Arkansas Light Artillery was a Confederate unit that served in the Western Theater in a variety of roles throughout the Civil War. The battery that would come to be known as the Third Arkansas was organized at Jacksonport (Jackson County) on June 15, 1861, under the command of Captain George McCown. The unit was known as McCown’s Battery during its early existence. The battery joined two other Arkansas artillery units in a battalion under the command of Major Francis Shoup, and this unit transferred to Confederate service on July 25, 1861. McCown resigned his commission on July 17, and Second Lieutenant George Hubbard was elected to lead the battery. The battalion moved to the east bank of the …

Third Arkansas Volunteer Infantry Regiment (CS)

The Third Arkansas Volunteer Infantry Regiment originated from two companies that Hamburg (Ashley County) lawyer Van H. Manning and Dr. William H. Tebbs raised in Ashley County shortly after Arkansas seceded from the Union. The two companies traveled to Vicksburg, Mississippi, to join the Confederate army but were refused admittance. This led Manning to travel to Montgomery, Alabama, which was then the Confederate capital, to seek the aid of Senator Albert Rust of Arkansas. Rust not only helped the two orphan companies get into the army but also enlisted and returned to Arkansas to raise eight more companies and form a regiment. Rust was successful in recruiting companies in Union, Drew, Ashley, and Hot Spring counties, and they traveled to …

Third Confederate Infantry (CS)

The Third Confederate Infantry was a Confederate unit that served in the Western Theater during the American Civil War. The unit of seven companies was primarily made up of men from Greene, Jefferson, Mississippi, Pulaski, St. Francis, and Searcy counties. One Searcy County company was former Arkansas Peace Society men who had been arrested and offered the choice of enlistment or jail. These companies, originally part of Hindman’s Legion, were organized into the First Arkansas Infantry Battalion when Confederate authorities refused to accept the twenty-two-company legion. With the addition of three companies from Tennessee and Mississippi, it officially became the Eighteenth Arkansas Infantry with John S. Marmaduke as colonel, J. B. Johnson as lieutenant colonel, and H. V. Keep as …

Thirteenth Arkansas Infantry (CS)

The Thirteenth Arkansas Infantry was a regiment that served in the Confederate army during the American Civil War. Spending most of its service in the Western Theater, the regiment served for the duration of the war. The regiment organized on July 29, 1861, in Greene County with companies from Phillips, St. Francis, Poinsett, Lawrence, Greene, Crittenden, and Craighead counties. One company in the regiment was from Missouri. James Tappan was selected as the first colonel of the regiment. The regiment moved to Belmont, Missouri, and camped on the banks of the Mississippi River across from Columbus, Kentucky. The unit saw its first action at the Battle of Belmont on November 7, 1861, when Brigadier General Ulysses Grant attacked the camp. …

Thirtieth Arkansas Infantry (CS)

aka: Rogan's Arkansas Cavalry (CS)
The Thirtieth Arkansas Infantry was a Confederate unit that served in the Trans-Mississippi Theater during the American Civil War. The unit was primarily composed of men from Craighead, Cross, Clay, Greene, Jackson, Poinsett, Pulaski, and St. Francis counties. The regiment was organized on June 18, 1862, with field officers Colonel Archibald McNeill, Lieutenant Colonel Robert A. Hart, and Major James W. Rogan. Initially referred to as the Fifth Trans-Mississippi Infantry Regiment or McNeill’s Regiment, it was officially designated the Thirtieth Arkansas Infantry by the Confederate War Department. Often incorrectly referred to as the Thirty-Ninth Arkansas Infantry, it is also known as Hart and Rogan’s Arkansas Infantry. During summer and fall 1862, the regiment operated in the vicinity of the White …

Thirty-Eighth Arkansas Infantry (CS)

The Thirty-Eighth Arkansas Infantry was a Confederate unit that served in the Trans-Mississippi Theater during the American Civil War. The unit was composed of men primarily from Craighead, Independence, Izard, Lawrence, and Randolph counties. The regiment began organization in June 1862 as a mounted infantry unit but was dismounted in August 1862 and mustered into Confederate service with ten companies on September 21, 1862, at Jacksonport (Jackson County). The elected field officers of the unit were Colonel Robert G. Shaver, Lieutenant Colonel William. C. Adams, and Major Milton Baber. The Thirty-Eighth Arkansas experienced its first combat on December 7, 1862, at the Battle of Prairie Grove. Assigned to a brigade commanded by Shaver of Frost’s Division, the Thirty-Eighth, under Adams, …

Thirty-First Arkansas Infantry (CS)

The Thirty-First Arkansas Infantry was a Confederate unit that served in the Western Theater during the American Civil War. The unit was composed of men primarily from Conway, Independence, Jackson, Pope, Van Buren, and Yell counties. Organized originally as a four-company battalion under the command of Major Thomas H. McCray in January 1862, it reorganized on May 25, 1862, as the Thirty-First Arkansas Infantry with ten companies. The original field officers were Colonel Thomas H. McCray, Lieutenant Colonel James F. Johnson, and Major James W. Clark. After initial assignment to the brigade of Brigadier General J. L. Hogg in Major General John P. McCown’s division at Corinth, Mississippi, it was ordered to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and transferred to the division of …

Thirty-Fourth Arkansas Infantry (CS)

The Thirty-Fourth Arkansas Infantry regiment was a Confederate unit that served in the Trans-Mississippi Theater during the American Civil War. Organized in the summer of 1862, most of the companies were raised prior to—but in direct response to—the 1862 Confederate Conscript Law, making it a volunteer regiment. It was composed primarily of men from Benton, Crawford, Franklin, Sebastian, and Washington counties. The original command staff consisted of Colonel William H. Brooks, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gunter, and Major James Woolsey. Initially referred to as the Second Regiment, Northwest Division by the state military board, the Confederate War Department re-designated it as the Thirty-Fourth Arkansas Infantry. During the summer and fall of 1862, the regiment trained in northwestern Arkansas before moving south …

Thirty-Second Arkansas Infantry (CS)

The Thirty-Second Arkansas Infantry Regiment was a Confederate unit that served in the Trans-Mississippi Theater during the Civil War. Organized on June 16, 1862, as Matlock’s Arkansas Cavalry Battalion, it was later converted to infantry. More than fifty percent of the regiment was composed of men from Independence, Jackson, Searcy, St. Francis, and White counties, with the remainder being conscripts. Appointed officers were Colonel Charles Matlock, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Young, and Major Lucien Gause. While serving as independent companies and Matlock’s Battalion, the troops fought in numerous small skirmishes in northeastern Arkansas at Smithville in Lawrence County, Searcy Landing on the Little Red River, Whitney’s Lane, Cache River near Cotton Plant (Woodruff County), and Groves Glades on the White River. …

Thirty-Seventh (Bell’s) Arkansas Infantry (CS)

The Thirty-seventh Arkansas Infantry Regiment was a Confederate unit that served in the Trans-Mississippi Theater during the American Civil War. It was a volunteer regiment, as it was organized in March 1862, prior to the enactment of the 1862 Confederate Conscript Law. It was composed primarily of men from Ashley, White, Woodruff, Union, Dallas, Clark, and Benton counties. The original command staff consisted of Colonel Joseph C. Pleasants, Lieutenant Colonel John A. Geoghegan, and Major Samuel S. Bell. Initially referred to as the First Trans-Mississippi Infantry Regiment and designated as the Twenty-ninth Arkansas Infantry by the Confederate War Department, it was most commonly referred to as Pleasant’s [sic] Arkansas Infantry. After the Battle of Prairie Grove and reorganization of the …