Background Music: Walk Him up the Stairs (Epilogue) performed by Cleavon Little from the Broadway Musical "Purlie"
based on the play "Purlie Victorious" by Ossie Davis.

State Seminar and Tour of Historic Little Rock Central High School
Attended by Local Heritage Volunteers

Two residents from Randolph County attended the “Profiles in Arkansas Black History” seminar at the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock Saturday, June 14. Pat Johnson, Chairperson for the Eddie Mae Herron Center Board of Directors, and Cindy Robinett, Administrator of the Randolph County Heritage Museum were joined by others from across the state for a day of presentations about significant African-Americans throughout Arkansas’ history.

Pat Johnson is seen above with two of the many speakers. On the left is Dr. Patricia Washington McGraw, a Little Rock native, who became the first African-American professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.  Today, at age 70, she is an author, activist and enthusiastic speaker.

In the middle is Mr. Milton P. Crenchaw, also from Little Rock, who was the senior flight instructor at Tuskegee Institute known for the training of the famed Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.  In 2007, he and fellow Tuskegee Airmen were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington D.C.  Mr. Crenchaw is 90 years old.

The workshop was sponsored by the Black History Commission of Arkansas and the Arkansas History Commission.

Following the seminar, Johnson and Robinett drove to the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, and toured the educational center and walked across the historic campus. 

In 1954, the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision officially declared segregation in public schools as unconstitutional. All U.S. public schools were instructed to integrate. Within a week, Arkansas was one of two Southern states to announce it would begin immediately to take steps to comply with the new ruling. The Arkansas Law School had been integrated since 1949, and by 1957, seven of Arkansas’s eight state universities had desegregated. Blacks had been appointed to state boards and elected to local offices; however, public state high schools were a different story.

In September of 1957, the public school ruling was tested for the first time when nine black students enrolled at Little Rock’s previously all-white Central High School.

The following details the sequence of events before, during and after the desegregation attempt and can be found at http://www.arkansas.com/central-high/history/.

On September 2, 1957, the day before classes begin for the new school year, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus summons the Arkansas National Guard to surround Central High School and block any attempts by black students to enter the school. Faubus announces in a public television speech that the orders are a proactive approach to prevent violence to all citizens and property and to “preserve the peace.”

September 4 - nine black students attempt to enter Central High but are turned away by the National Guard.

September 20 - A federal judge grants an injunction to NAACP lawyers Thurgood Marshall and Wiley Branton to impede the governor's use of the National Guard. The troops withdraw.

September 23 - Little Rock police officers and over 1,000 integration protestors surround the school in anticipation of the black students’ attempt to enter the school. The police escort the students into the high school’s side door unnoticed. Outside, the mob learns of the students’ entrance and becomes angry and aggressive. They begin to challenge the police officers. Fearful the crowd will get out of control, the school administration moves the black students out a side door before noon.

September 24 - U.S. Congressman Brooks Hays and Little Rock Mayor Woodrow Mann ask the federal government for help via a telegram to President Dwight Eisenhower. President Eisenhower displaces between 1,100 and 1,200 federal troops of the 101st Airborne Division and places 10,000 National Guardsmen on duty.

September 25 – The Little Rock Nine, under protection from federal troops, enter Central High School through the front entrance. Aggressive white mobs verbally chastise the students and physically harm black reporters in the crowd covering the affair. The event is seen around the world.

Fifty years later, the courageous efforts of the Little Rock Nine are celebrated as one of the most defining chapters in Little Rock's history, and as one of the earliest victories of a long overdue civil rights movement. Central High remains one of the leading education centers in Arkansas and stands as an icon for racial equality and social reform. It has become a National Historic Site and the Educational Visitor’s Center has a large interactive timeline and exhibit detailing the crisis and aftermath.

See http://www.nps.gov/chsc/

Feb. 2008 KAIT TV Interview with Pat Johnson (on Black History Month)
and Jean Oaks (on Friendship Cemetery Workday)

Note: This video begins with a brief commercial.
The video was recently still available through the KAIT video archive,
but may be removed eventually.

Click the video thumbnail to the left to see the video. When done, you'll need to click your browser's "Back" button rapidly, twice, to return to this page.

2008 Martin Luther King Day March

Following the gathering at the Community Center the crowd moved to the warmth of the Eddie Mae Herron Center for a lunch of hot chili.

Pocahontas Star Herald photo

Friendship Cemetery Grant
From Pocahontas Star Herald

Raymond Mansker Honored In Jonesboro

Emancipation Proclamation Field Trip

Our group of about 50 arrived at the Clinton Library about noon and were soon viewing the Emancipation Proclamation as well as a very interesting display the library had prepared on Presidents and their work toward desegregation since 1860. After viewing the whole museum, we headed over to Central High, were we toured their soon-to-be replaced museum. Indeed, while we were there, workers were setting up chairs for the dedication of the new museum that was due to open two days later.

View our trip photo album below, with photos by Gus Rankin and Pat Carroll. Click a small "thumbnail" photo to enlarge it, then use your browser's "back" button to return to this page.

Our group, at the Clinton Presidential Library	Enroute to Little Rock	Entering the Clinton Library	Exhibit on the desegregation impact of each President since Lincoln.
In the background is the new Central High Crisis museum and visitor center, but it hadn't opened yet.	We toured the old Central High museum, in an old service station near Central High.	Viewing displays inside the Central High Crisis museum.
			Central High the day we were there. They had set up thousands of folding chairs in preparation for the observation of the 50th anniversary of the Crisis, which was to be held just a few days after we were there.

 

Multi-Generational Workshop at Herron Center

Softball Tournament named for the late Roland McCarroll

The Randolph County Heritage Museum will sponsor the first annual Roland McCarrol Memorial Softball Tournament on Saturday and Sunday April 7-8, 2007 at the Pocahontas Sports Complex.

Applications for the tournament may be picked up at the museum on the historic court square in Pocahontas, Sports Max, and at City Hall. For more information about the tournament, contact Bill Masiongale at 870-892-9022.

World-Famous Blues Artists Visit Herron Center

(left) Pat Johnson, President of the Herron Center, greets Blues artist Guy Davis upon his arrival at the Herron Center during a recent visit to Pocahontas. Mr. Davis, from The Bronx, New York, was accompanied by a film crew from a New York university, who are making a documentary about the famous singer. Davis is the son of well-known personalities Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. By coincidence, the background music we've used on this web page for years comes from a musical based on Ossie Davis' play "Purlie Victorious" (see above).

(right) Arkansas' most famous Blues singer CeDell Davis (no relation to Guy Davis above) arrives for a visit at the Herron Center while Guy Davis was here. CeDell, from Helena, Arkansas, performed with Guy before a large crowd at the Randolph County Courthouse as part of the Pocahontas Sesquicentennial celebration. It was the best Blues performance any of us had ever heard!

Visit our Gallery Page here for more photos of this wonderful day.

Herron Center Has A "New" Outhouse!

The center sought out and received permission from the current land owner, Sloan-Hendrix School of Imboden, to move the old building to the Herron Center property for restoration and preservation. (And, no, we're not planning to make it functional again!)

As soon as restoration is complete, we'll post photos and more information.

Presentation and Book Signing Hosted at Herron Center

The Eddie Mae Herron Center hosted a PowerPoint slide presentation and book signing by author Dr. Jan Zeigler Thursday, June 9. About thirty five people from northeast Arkansas attended the presentation on Dr. Tyler's recently published book on the subject of "relocation camps" built in Arkansas during World War II to house Japanese Americans who were moved from California during the war.

The presentation reminded many in attendance of some dark days in American history, and also called attention to some similarities between the experiences of discrimination shared by both African and Japanese Americans.

Herron Center Donates To Local Causes

Eddie Mae Herron Center board member and treasurer Jessie Ann Johnson presents checks for $250 each to Lesa Lewallen, chairperson of the Relay for Life fundraiser (left), and to Raul Blasini (right), local coordinator of the Men's Prostate Screening initiative.

The contributions are from funds raised at the Candidate Speaking and Pie Auction held at the Center last month. The Center is proud to be able to donate part of the funds raised to such worth-while efforts and encourages everyone to participate in both events.

World-Renowned Photographer Visits Herron Center

World-famous photographer Roland Freeman of Washington, D.C. visited the Herron Center during the 2006 Black History Month. Mr. Freeman, who spent a couple of days in Pocahontas, devoted several hours to his visit to the Eddie Mae Herron Center, speaking about his life and his work, with particular focus on his coverage of the civil rights movement.

Freeman, also an expert on American's quilting heritage, spent time with the Herron Center "quilting ladies", admiring their work and sharing stories about the history of quilting.

Mr. Freeman lectured at Black River Technical College on his second evening in Pocahontas, sharing many memories of his years in news photography, with particular focus on his coverage of, and book about, the Mule Train wagon train from Mississippi to Washington, D.C., highlighting the plight of the poor in America.

During his lecture, Freeman expressed his amazement at and appreciation for the wonderful, cooperative atmosphere between the races in Pocahontas and Randolph County, and the interracial support for the Eddie Mae Herron Center.

4-H Team Creates Herron Center Sildeshow

From Pocahontas Star Herald, April 6, 2006

Elizabeth Bennett, right, president of the Randolph County 4-H Technology Team, presents a slidewhos of photos taken at the March 4 "Hog Killin'" to Pat Johnson, president of the Herron Center board of directors.

The four-minute presentation was created by Elizabeth in honor of the Herron Center celebratio of Black History Month and Randolph County Heritage. The presentation is available on CD, DVD and video tape.

March  16: Herron Center Board Meets

• The annual Relay For Life event will be held at Riverfront Park June 2. All money raised goes to the American Cancer Society, mostly for research. There will be a cancer survivors dinner at Outlook Pointe the week before the Relay. The Herron Center voted to donate to the Cancer Society $5 for each pie auctioned at the upcoming Herron Center political speaking and pie auction.
• Elizabeth Bennett, daughter of Cindy Robinette, has created a video of the annual Herron Center Hog Killing and the board voted to permit Miss Bennett to sell these CD/DVD/Video presentations as a fund raiser for the local school Tech Club.
• Broadway Landscaping has offered to help the center with installing an automatic lawn sprinkler system, and Dr. Patrick Carroll has offered to donate some shrubbery to enhance the appearance of the Center.
• Auction of meat from the recent Center hog killing event raised $714 for the Center (the hog was donated by local individuals).
• The City of Pocahontas is applying for a grant to fund construction of a sidewalk in front of the Herron Center.
• The Center will sponsor a candidate speaking and pie auction April 28 at 6 p.m. Finger foods and a social hour will be offered from 6-7:00. Candidate speaking begins at 7:00. Pies will be auctioned between the candidate's 3-minutes speeches.
• A poet, traveling highway U.S. 62, will be in Pocahontas April 21. He will spend most of the day at Black River Technical College, but the Herron Center will host a pie and coffee reception for him, at the Center, at 7:00 p.m. Dr. Patrick Carroll has donated a Bunn-brand commercial coffee maker to the center for use at such events.
• Dr. Jan Ziegler will host a book signing at the Center soon, promoting her new book on the subject of Japanese Interment/Relocation Camps located in Arkansas during World War II.
• The Board discussed the Center's planned participation in the upcoming Pocahontas Sesquicentennial celebrations. The Center will sponsor performances two days during the celebration by the dance group Act III, from Little Rock. The Center will also sponsor a Christian worship service and "dinner on the grounds" on the Randolph County Courthouse lawn October 8. The Center is bringing a choir from St. Louis to perform after the service.
• The Center will sell Boston Butt Roasts for Easter as a fund raiser. More details HERE.
• World-renowned photographer Roland Freeman, who spoke at the Herron Center in February, wrote a nice letter of thanks for his visit in Pocahontas, mentioning how impressed he was with the Center, with Pocahontas, and with the people of this area and how well they cooperate and "get along".

February 10: Black History Month Activity

From Pocahontas Star Herald, February 16, 2006

School children from Maynard and Pocahontas sit and listen attentively as Debbie Young talks about the "Mule Train" at the Eddie Mae Herron Center in Pocahontas last week as part of the Center's celebration of Black History Month. Click HERE for details on other events this month.
                                                                                                               (Star Herald photo by Dalton Sullivan)

Barbeque Grill Donated to Herron Center
(from the Pocahontas Star Herald, August 25, 2005)

Red Hat Garnet Girls Visit Center
(from the Pocahontas Star Herald, June 16, 2005)

SMALL WORLD DEPARTMENT: Herron Center Discovered in Great Britain