Mark Christ

Jul 24, 2024 | ualrpublicradio.org | Mark Christ

For the Central Arkansas Library System and KUAR, I’m Mark Christ with an Encyclopedia of Arkansas Minute. A Chicot County native would become a college basketball star and a federal judge. Franklin Burgess was more in Eudora in 1935. After a stint in the U.S. Air Force he entered Gonzaga University in Washington State in 1958. Playing on the basketball team, he led the nation in scoring in the 1960-61 season with more than thirty-two points per game. His number was retired after he graduated.

Jul 24, 2024 | ualrpublicradio.org | Mark Christ

A former slave became one of the most famous lawmen in U.S. history. Bass Reeves was born in July 1838 and during the civil war escaped his enslavers. It is believed he fought for the Union. He settled in Van Buren after the war and served as a guide for U.S. Marshals going into the Indian Territory. He was hired as a commissioned deputy U.S. Marshal in 1875, becoming one of the first Black federal lawmen west of the Mississippi River.

Jul 23, 2024 | ualrpublicradio.org | Mark Christ

For the Central Arkansas Library System and Little Rock Public Radio, I’m Mark Christ with an Encyclopedia of Arkansas Minute. For a decade Arkansas required blood donations to be labeled with the donor’s race. Representative N.B. Murphy sponsored the bill, which was championed by Governor Orval Faubus.

Jul 23, 2024 | ualrpublicradio.org | Mark Christ

For the Central Arkansas Library System and Little Rock Public Radio, I’m Mark Christ with an Encyclopedia of Arkansas Minute. A Lincoln County family established an agricultural enterprise that found success in a time when independent Black farmers faced daunting obstacles. Abraham and Katie Carpenter initially sold produce locally from a one-acre vegetable garden but soon expanded to a thirty-acre spread, employing additional family members.

Jul 23, 2024 | ualrpublicradio.org | Mark Christ

For the Central Arkansas Library System and Little Rock Public Radio, I’m Mark Christ with an Encyclopedia of Arkansas Minute. A Hot Spring County community can trace its roots to 1855, when the Brown family emigrated there and placed boxes over the sulfur, iron and copper springs in the area. Brown Springs became a popular vacation spot for people from Clark and Dallas counties and a Methodist campground was established in 1867.