Daisy Bates: Civil Rights Crusader from Arkansas chronicles the life of Daisy Bates, mentor to the Little Rock Nine and a key figure in the civil rights movement. Grif Stockley highlights her leadership in Arkansas’s NAACP, her work with presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and her lifelong advocacy for social justice. The book reveals Bates as a complex, influential, and often overlooked civil rights leader.
Black History Month
This guide is in celebration of Black History Month and includes books and media from the NWACC Library Collection.
Arkansas History
Little Rock on Trial
Americans were riveted to their television sets in 1957, when a violent mob barred black students from entering Little Rock's Central High School and faced off against paratroopers sent by a reluctant President Eisenhower. That set off a firestorm of protest throughout the nation and ultimately led to the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Cooper v. Aaron.
The Long Shadow of Little Rock: A Memoir
Recounts the 1957 incident in which nine black children were prevented from entering school.
Redefining the Color Line: Black Activism in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1940-1970
In 1957 the Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas began integration. Resistance forced President Eisenhower to send federal troops to protect nine black students as they entered the school. It was some time earlier, in 1954, that the US Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregation was unconstitutional.
Ruled by Race: Black/White Relations in Arkansas from Slavery to the Present
From the Civil War to Reconstruction, the Redeemer period, Jim Crow, and the modern civil rights era to the present, Ruled by Race describes the ways that race has been at the center of much of the state's formation and image since its founding.
White Man's Heaven: the Lynching and Expulsion of Blacks in the Southern Ozarks
Drawing on court records, newspaper accounts, penitentiary records, letters, and diaries, White Man's Heaven is a thorough investigation into the lynching and expulsion of African Americans in the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
A Life Is More Than a Moment: The Desegregation of Little Rock's Central High
A Light in the Storm presents the powerful photographs of Will Counts, documenting the 1957 Little Rock school integration crisis. Counts captured the violence and tension that prompted President Eisenhower to send troops, while essays contextualize the events and their impact on the civil rights movement. The book reveals the courage of both the students and the journalists who bore witness to history.
Little Rock: Race and Resistance at Central High School
Little Rock examines the 1957 school desegregation crisis, exploring the actions of activists, policymakers, and segregationists. Karen Anderson situates the events within broader racial, social, and political contexts, revealing how white mobilization, business interests, and moral compromises shaped the outcome. The book sheds light on the lasting impact of these conflicts on American society and race relations.
Websites
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Arkansas African American HistoryList of historic Arkansas African-American related places, things, and monuments.
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Encyclopedia of Arkansas - African-AmericansThis website includes an encyclopedic entry about African-Americans in Arkansas and links to some important figures and events.
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Black History Commission of ArkansasList of those appointed to serve on this committee.