March 5, 1959

Twenty-one African American boys burned to death inside a dormitory at an Arkansas reform school in Wrightsville (Pulaski County). Around 4:00 a.m., a fire mysteriously ignited following previous thunderstorms in the area. Though the doors were locked from the outside, forty-eight children, ages thirteen through seventeen, managed to claw their way to safety by knocking out two window screens. This event became “Exhibit A” for disparities the prevailed in Arkansas during segregation. The survivors, many of whom had suffered in squalor at the institution, never forgot their experiences.