History
John Hanks Alexander (1864-1894) - The second African-American to graduate from West Point and the first African-American officer with a regular command position in the U.S. Army. In 1894 he was selected to serve as professor of military science and tactics at Wilberforce University, an African-American college in Ohio.
Daisy Bates (1914 - 1999) - Born in Huttig, this African-American activist led the effort to desegregate the Little Rock public schools in 1957. She continued to press for civil rights for African-Americans and later published an African-American-oriented Little Rock newspaper, the Arkansas State Press.
James Black (1800 - 1872) - A New Jersey-born and expertly-trained silversmith, Black made his way to Washington, Arkansas during territorial days. He developed a unique process for knife blades and among his customers was James Bowie who reportedly carried a Black-made knife during the fall of the Alamo in 1836. Black was blinded while in his forties and never revealed his secret for tempering metal. He died at Washington, where a state park has recreated the Black blacksmith shop on the exact site of the original.
Maurice “Footsie” Britt (1919- 1995) - Professional football player, World War II hero and notable Arkansas politician who was born in Carlisle and raised in Lonoke. Nicknamed “Footsie” as a boy, Britt starred with the Detroit Lions until World War II. In the Army, he was the first soldier to win the four top medals for valor, including the Congressional Medal of Honor. Britt also received the Military Cross of the British Empire and the Al Valore Militare Merit from the Italian government. Wounded in four different battles, he lost his right arm and severely injured a foot. During the 60s, he served as Lieutenant Governor. (His cousin is the late famous actress, Dorothy Lamour.
General William Orlando Darby (1911-1945) - Darby grew up at Fort Smith, attended West Point and graduated in 1933. In early 1941, he participated in amphibious training in Puerto Rico, and later in North Carolina. Became the leader of the unit that would be called: Rangers; in the spirit of Rogers Rangers whose operations were successful during the Revolutionary War. The men of Lieutenant Colonel William O. Darby’s 1st Ranger Battalion were all volunteers whose applications had been carefully screened when they were organized at Fort Smith in the summer of 1942. Darby’s organization and leadership catapulted the Rangers toward the front where they distinguished themselves in combat from North Africa to Europe. Darby was killed by an artillery round on 30 April 1945. At 34 Darby died just a few days before VE Day.
Sonora Louise Smart Dodd (1882-1978) - This Jenny Lind native is credited with creating Father’s Day, which was first observed in Spokane, Washington, in 1910 where she and her family then lived. Dodd wanted a special day to honour her father, William Smart, an Arkansas farmer and widower, who raised six children by himself. (He also was a member of The First Arkansas Light Artillery which was organized at Fort Smith and fought in the battle of Pea Ridge in 1862.) Finally, in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the third Sunday of June as Father’s Day.
William “Bill” Doolin (1858-1896) - Founder of the Wild Bunch, which specialized in robbing banks, trains and stagecoaches in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas in the 1890s, was born in 1858 on a farm in Johnson County north of Clarksville. Originally a member of the Dalton Gang, he formed his own gang around 1893 and the Wild Bunch became the premier terrorizers of the West until Doolin was captured in a Eureka Springs bathhouse by Deputy U.S. Marshall Bill Tilghman in January 1896. He later escaped federal custody and was shot and killed by a U.S. Marshall near Lawson, Oklahoma Territory on August 25, 1896.
Brooks Hays (1898 - 1981) - London, Arkansas native who served as a United States Congressman (1943 - 1958). He later became special advisor to President John F. Kennedy, as well as a professor at Rutgers and Duke. A legendary storyteller, he was known for his gentle, self-mocking humor, as in his account of his election in 1957 as president of the Southern Baptist Convention: “When my name was first suggested, one minister said to another, ‘We don’t want a politician for our president, do we?’ His friend replied, ‘Well, Brooks ain’t enough of one to count.’”
Jimmy Lile (1934-1991) - Known as The Arkansas Knifemaker, this famed Russellville craftsman is known worldwide for the quality of his work. The knives are still made by the craftsmen he trained with his widow inspecting each piece before it is sold. Lile was the creator of the original “Rambo First Blood” and “Rambo II the Mission” knives that were actually used in the first two “Rambo” movies. Lile is the inventor and craftsman of the patented “Lile Lock” folding knife, which is proudly on display at the Smithsonian Institute. Other famous owners of his work include John Wayne, Peter Fonda, Fess Parker; actress Bo Derek; and singer-songwriter Johnny Cash.
General Douglas MacArthur (1880 - 1964) - He was born in the Tower Building of the Little Rock Arsenal while his father was its commandant. He rose to become a Five-star U.S. Army general and Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in the Pacific during World War II. He accepted the Japanese surrender in 1945. His accomplishments include: first in class at West Point; Superintendent of West Point; Army Chief of Staff; U.S. Far East Commander; Congressional Medal of Honor recipient; Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers; and first UN Commander. The building where the general was born, the Officer’s Quarters, still stands and is now used to house the Arkansas Museum of Military History. The building where the general was born, known as the Officer’s Quarters, is preserved in the midst of MacArthur Park in downtown Little Rock.
Judge Isaac C. Parker (1838 - 1896) - He was an attorney, a congressman and later appointed a U.S. Judge by President Grant in 1875. Known as the “Hanging Judge” during his 21 years on the bench in the Western District, which included Arkansas and Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). In his Fort Smith courtroom, he heard more than 13,000 cases. More than 9,000 defendants pleaded guilty or were convicted. Of these, 344 were tried for capital offenses and 160 were sentenced to hang. Only 79 were actually hanged. Parker in later years said, “It was not I who hung them. I never hung a man. It was the law.”
Albert Pike (1809 - 1891) - Soldier, teacher, lawyer, explorer, newspaperman, and poet. Pike was born in Boston, Massachusetts and later moved to Arkansas in 1831. Pike served as a member of the territorial legislature and captain of the cavalry squadron in the Mexican War in 1846. He also served as Indian Commissioner for the Confederacy and led a brigade of Cherokee Indians at the Battle of Pea Ridge in 1862. The major work of his career was the writing the philosophy of Freemasonry. He lived on the Little Missouri River and later in Little Rock.
Bass Reeves (1824 - 1910) - The first black commissioned United States deputy marshal west of the Mississippi River, Reeves was born to slave parents in July 1824 in Paris, Texas. Freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, the six-foot-two, 190-pound former slave left the Indian country, bought land near Van Buren. Isaac C. Parker was appointed judge for the Federal Western District Court at Fort Smith on May 10, 1875, to bring law to the Indian Territory. One of his first official acts was to swear in a United States marshal and appoint 200 deputies to curb the lawlessness in the area. Reeves was recruited because he knew the tribal languages and country well. Dependability and devotion to duty were the benchmarks of Reeves’s service to the government. Many of the district courts asked for Reeves because of his reliability in serving warrants. The deputy’s respect for the law was legendary.
C. Vann Woodward (b. 1908 - 1999) - Born in Vanndale, this eminent historian of the American South was one of the first historians to recognize what has come to be called the Southern Literary Renaissance. He is the author of numerous books and essays, including Origins of the New South (1951) and The Burden of Southern History (1960). His edition of a Southern woman’s war diary, Mary Chestnut’s Civil War (1981), won a Pulitzer Prize in history.