top of page
Search


Ellis CeDell Davis: A Unique Talent
Ellis CeDell Davis was one of the most resilient and uniquely talented blues artists to ever hail from Arkansas. Image Credit:...
Jun 15, 20223 min read


Bobby "El Charro Negro" Butler
Bobby "El Charro Negro" Butler was the first African American to become an award winning Tejano singer. Image Credit:...
Jun 8, 20224 min read


Sippie Wallace: A Blues Legend
Sippie Wallace, an exceptional blues singer, musician, and Arkansas native, is celebrated among the earliest blues greats such as Bessie...
Jun 1, 20223 min read


Reverend John M. Lucey & Pine Bluff's Colored Industrial Institute
Despite multiple organizational changes, Reverend Lucey’s groundbreaking school, the Colored Industrial Institute, lasted more than 120...
May 25, 20224 min read


Chief Heckaton’s Battle to Remain in Arkansas
In the late 1800s, relentless Quapaw Chief Heckaton, repeatedly petitioned the US government to allow his tribe to retain their Arkansas...
May 18, 20224 min read


Basil Shabazz: The Measure of Greatness
Basil Shabazz, a Pine Bluff athletic phenom and all-around athlete, has served as a standard for greatness, first as athlete and now as a...
May 11, 20224 min read


The Rich History of Pine Bluff Cotton Seed Oil Companies
Initially thought of as waste from cotton production, in 1890 cotton seeds became a source of financial gain for Pine Bluff cotton...
May 4, 20223 min read


Colonel John M. Gracie & the Italian Immigrants Experiment
Colonel John M. Gracie, a prominent Arkansas cotton plantation owner intent on ensuring his plantation’s success, imported families from...
Apr 27, 20224 min read


Martha Beall Mitchell: A Pine Bluff Original
This article is a reprint from the Explore Pine Bluff Blog due to anticipated interest in the upcoming Starz series Gaslit highlighting...
Apr 20, 20223 min read


Amanda Trulock: An Unconventional Arkansas Plantation Owner
Amanda Trulock is remembered for being an unconventional Arkansas woman of her time. She held nuanced conflicted views about slavery,...
Apr 13, 20223 min read


Wild Bill Hickok: A Gunslinging Legend of the Wild West
Born almost 2 centuries ago, Wild Bill Hickok is still remembered as a great lawman and a feared gunslinger, sometimes with either foot...
Apr 6, 20225 min read


Marian Etiole Watson: A Paragon of Entertainment News
Marian Etiole Watson has made a name for herself as an award-winning journalist and a household name among New York’s pop culture elite...
Mar 30, 20223 min read


Beth Brickell: Pine Bluff Entertainer Extraordinaire
Beth Brickell made a huge and lasting impact on the entertainment industry, starring in television shows and movies, and going on to...
Mar 23, 20223 min read


Madam M. E. Hockenhull: A Pine Bluff Business Woman Ahead of Her Time
This astute Pine Bluff entrepreneur owned a clothing store, beauty parlor, and beauty school all while designing women's attire,...
Mar 16, 20223 min read


Rural Revolutionaries: 1918 Refusal by Black Pine Bluff Women to Pick Cotton
In 1918, a group of black women banded together against Pine Bluff city officials to increase their meager wages and succeeded against...
Mar 9, 20223 min read


Lillian Rozell Messenger: A Prolific American Poet
Lillian Rozell Messenger made her mark in American literature throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, just as women began to...
Mar 2, 20223 min read


Pine Bluff’s Instrumental Role in Transforming American Civil Rights
The city of Pine Bluff and many of its residents played integral parts in the civil rights movement, spanning across disciplines from...
Feb 23, 20224 min read


John Horse and the Black Seminoles: The Race to Freedom
John Horse courageously led Seminoles and enslaved people to freedom from Florida to Mexico, even stopping in Pine Bluff. Image Credit:...
Feb 16, 20223 min read


The Power of Student Activism: Pine Bluff Student Sit-Ins (Woolworth’s and McDonald’s)
Some of the most impactful moments in civil rights history were not the results of the planning of great leaders, but rather the...
Feb 9, 20224 min read


Dr. Carter G. Woodson & The Rich History of Black History Month
Woodson, the child of enslaved people, achieved much his parents couldn’t. He became a celebrated Black historian, was the second African...
Feb 2, 20223 min read
bottom of page
