Yell County Archive
Southern Stories: Campaign for Racial Equality
[This letter was written as a part of the Other Arkansas collective and represents a myriad of voices. A shortened version of this letter was submitted to the Courier newspaper. Please join us THIS Saturday in Dardanelle for a community event and please consider signing your name to this letter and asking others to do the
Category: African American History
What the Children Will Expect of Us: A Living Room Conversation
Last week a coalition of several organizations and individuals across the south launched a media campaign calling on white people in small towns and rural areas to stand up against white supremacy and break through the cultures of silence surrounding race and racism. Our media campaign is just the first step in our collective long
Category: Arkansas
Storm Cellar Stories
Recently my dear friend Suzanne Alford-Hodges loaned me her copy of the amazing book Garden Sass: A Catalog of Arkansas Folkways. Written in 1975 by Nancy McDonough, this book is much like a regional version of the famed Foxfire series, a combination of folklore, oral histories and photos from around the state. The subtitle
Category: Arkansas
Honoring Local Women’s Stories: Storytelling and Oral History Event at the McElroy House
Growing up in an intergenerational family with my grandmother in the home, family gatherings and daily life were filled with stories about the lives of people who had long since passed on. Likewise, the landscape was marked by these stories. I knew that my grandfather made a home on what is now a
Category: Arkansas
Muzzled Oxen Part 4: Malaria and Tornados
In several past columns I’ve discussed the recent publication Muzzled Oxen: Reaping Cotton and Sowing Hope in 1920s Arkansas. Written by the late Genevieve Grant Sadler of California and published by the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, this memoir tells of Sadler’s time in the bottoms outside of Dardanelle, Arkansas where she and her
Category: African American
McElroy House Pie Sale: Stories from Two Sisters
Next Saturday the McElroy House: Organization for Cultural Resources and Community Action will hold its first annual Harvest Walk/Run beginning at 10:00 a.m. at the Russellville Depot. If you didn’t pre-register you can still sign up the day of the event. There’s no need to be a runner to take part. This is a
Category: Arkansas
Community Singings and Square Dances: Muzzled Oxen Part 3
If you’ve been reading this column lately you’re familiar with our regular features on the recently published book, Muzzled Oxen: Reaping Cotton and Sowing Hope in 1920s Arkansas. Published by Butler Center Books, a branch of the Central Arkansas Library system, this three hundred fifty page memoir documents the stories of Genevieve Grant Sadler, a
Category: African American History
Prayer Shawls and Homemade Quilts
In the corner of my living room closet is a stack of handmade quilts, blankets, and throws. Some of them come from great grandmothers and were made generations ago in the rural areas of Harkey Valley and Cardon Bottoms. Others were made during my own lifetime in small homes in the growing town of
Category: Arkansas
Muzzled Oxen Part 2: The Price of Cotton
Last month we explored a recent book published by the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies entitled Muzzled Oxen: Reaping Cotton and Sowing Hope in 1920s Arkansas. Written by the late Genevieve Grant Sadler of California, the memoir explores her years in Yell County Arkansas where her family worked the cotton fields outside of Dardanelle. The
Category: African American History
Muzzled Oxen: Reaping Cotton and Sowing Hope in 1920s Arkansas, Part 1
A recent book published by Butler Center Books, the publishing arm of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, examines life in the Yell County cotton fields in the 1920s. Written by the late Genevieve Grant Sadler, Muzzled Oxen: Reaping Cotton and Sowing Hope in 1920s Arkansas is a captivating memoir drawn from letters Sadler wrote
Category: Arkansas