calsfoundation@cals.org
January 1, 1860
The Freed Negro Act of 1859 went into effect. It required all free black Arkansans to leave or be sold into slavery. Slave owners and those who did their bidding in the state legislature were the brokers behind this law, which was designed to eliminate from the state a population that defied the traditional class boundaries. Especially hurt by this law was a thriving free black population in Marion County.