December 20, 1904

The sixteenth governor of Arkansas, James Philip Eagle, died of heart failure in Little Rock (Pulaski County). As governor, Eagle faced a divided Democratic Party and a General Assembly bent on enacting a series of “Jim Crow” laws to segregate Arkansas society along racial lines. By the time Eagle left office, the dominance of the Democratic Party had been restored, but Arkansans were more racially divided than at any time since the days of slavery.