Entry Type: Thing

A. M. Bohnert Rice Plantation Pump No. 2 Engine

Located on the southeast corner of the junction of U.S. Highway 165 and Post Bayou Lane near Gillett (Arkansas County) is the A. M. Bohnert Rice Plantation Pump No. 2 Engine. It serves as a reminder of the importance of an adequate supply of water for successful rice farming. The pump, the only survivor of four that were once on the plantation, was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 23, 2010 (with the nearby well also contributing to the nomination). It stands in the twenty-first century much as it did when installed, surrounded by fields of crops. The land on which the pump stands was purchased by A. M. Bohnert in the early twentieth century. Bohnert …

Aaron v. Cooper

aka: Cooper v. Aaron
Aaron v. Cooper, reversed by the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court as Cooper v. Aaron, was the “other shoe dropping” after Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas declared school segregation unconstitutional but did not lay out any clear guidelines for how to proceed with desegregation. The Supreme Court’s opinion in Cooper v. Aaron sent a message to segregated school districts nationwide that the Supreme Court would not tolerate attempts to evade or obstruct integration. The intervention of the executive branch in sending federal troops to Little Rock (Pulaski County) underscored the supremacy of the federal Constitution over state law and, arguably, added to the Court’s power and prestige. For …