Arkansas (AR).

• Region: South
• Population: 3,045,637 (ranked 33rd) (2022 estimate)
• Capital: Little Rock (pop. 202,864) (2022 estimate)
• Largest city: Little Rock (pop. 202,864) (2022 estimate)
• Number of counties: 75
• State nickname: The Natural State
• State motto: Regnat populus (The people rule)
• State flag: Red field with four stars and white diamond with name “Arkansas”

Arkansas, known as “the Natural State,” entered the Union on June 25, 1836, as the twenty-fifth state. Now part of the south-central United States, in the nation’s early days it was part of the “Old Southwest.” It is bordered by Missouri on the north, Oklahoma and Texas on the west, Louisiana on the south, and by Tennessee and Mississippi on the east. Originally claimed by the Spanish, Arkansas passed into United States’ hands when Napoleon sold it as part of the Louisiana Territory. Many place names still recall the French influence. The state came to national prominence in the early 1990s when Governor Bill Clinton was elected president of the United States. Popular tourist attractions include the scenic Ozark Mountains and water-related activities such as fishing, sailing, scuba-diving, and whitewater rafting, as well as the mineral springs at Hot Springs.

State Name: The Quapaw, who lived in the area at the time of European contact, were also known as the Arkansaw (South Wind). The French explorers who first encountered the tribe wrote the word as Arkansas, conforming with French spelling rules.

Capital:Little Rock, located in the middle of the state along the Arkansas River, became territorial capital in 1821, when the government was moved from the French trading settlement of Arkansas Post. Little Rock has served as state capital since Arkansas joined the Union in 1836.

Flag: The Arkansas state flag was adopted in 1913, following a design contest sponsored by the state chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). The flag’s union or background is red, with a large diamond in the middle. This represented that Arkansas was the only place in North America with a diamond mine (although diamonds were later discovered elsewhere). Arkansas’s status as the nation’s twenty-fifth state is represented by twenty-five white stars around the diamond. Three stars in the center represent Spain, France, and the United States, the nations that had governed the land including Arkansas. Above these stars is another star representing Arkansas’s membership in the Confederacy during the Civil War. In 2019, the state legislature proposed two bills to change the meaning of the star in the flag; both bills failed to make it out of committee for a vote. The state motto, Regnat populus (The people rule), does not appear on the flag.

Official Symbols

• Flower: Apple blossom
• Bird: Mockingbird
• Tree: Pine
• Song: "Arkansas" by Eva Ware Barnett

State and National Historic Sites

• Arkansas Post Museum (Gillett)
• Arkansas Post National Memorial (Gillettt)
• Fort Smith National Historic Site (Fort Smith)
• Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site (Little Rock)
• Louisiana Purchase State Historic Park (Brinkley)
• Historic Washington State Park (Washington)
• Parkin Archeological State Park (Parkin)
• Pea Ridge National Military Park (near Pea Ridge)
• Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park (Prairie Grove)
• President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site (Hope)
• Red River Campaign State Park (Fordyce)
• Trail of Tears National Historic Trail (AL, AR, GA, IL, KY, MO, NC, OK, TN)

DEMOGRAPHICS

• Population: 3,045,637 (ranked 33rd) (2022 estimate)
• Population density: 57.9/sq mi (2020 estimate)
• Urban population: 55.5% (2020 estimate)
• Rural population: 44.5% (2020 estimate)
• Population under 18: 22.9% (2022 estimate)
• Population over 65: 17.8% (2022 estimate)
• White alone: 78.5% (2022 estimate)
• Black or African American alone: 15.6% (2022 estimate)
• Hispanic or Latino: 8.6% (2022 estimate)
• American Indian and Alaska Native alone: 1.1% (2022 estimate)
• Asian alone: 1.8% (2022 estimate)
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone: 0.5% (2022 estimate)
• Two or More Races: 2.4% (2022 estimate)
• Per capita income: $29,210 (ranked 48th; 2021)
• Unemployment: 3.3% (2022 estimate)

American Indian Tribes: The state takes its name from the Quapaw or Arkansaw, who belonged largely to the Plains culture and spoke a Siouan language. The Quapaw had originally lived in the Ohio Valley, but eventually settled along the southern Mississippi River. Father Jacques Marquette, a French Jesuit, encountered the tribe in 1673 during his western journeys.

Like many other tribes, the Arkansaw tribe fought against displacement by White settlement. In the early nineteenth century, the United States government forced most American Indians to leave the state. In 1818, the Quapaw ceded a large amount of land to the federal government. The tribe later moved to a reservation in Indian Territory (later Oklahoma).

ENVIRONMENT AND GEOGRAPHY

• Total area: 53,178 sq mi (ranked 29th)
• Land area: 52,035 sq mi (97.9% of total area)
• Water area: 1,143 sq mi (2.1% of total area)
• National parks: 7
• Highest point: Magazine Mountain (2,753 feet)
• Lowest point: Ouachita River (55 feet)
• Highest temperature: 120° F (Ozark, August 10, 1936)
• Lowest temperature: -29° F (Gravette, February 3, 1905)

Topography: Arkansas has a varied geography. In the east, one finds the Mississippi Delta lowlands as well as prairie. In the northwest, the land rises into the Ozark Mountains and the Ouchita Mountains. About half of the state is covered by forests. The state also has numerous rivers, both large and small. The larger rivers, running generally southeast or south, form part of the Mississippi River watershed. In addition to the Arkansas River, these include the Red River and the Ouachita River. Hot Springs, Arkansas, takes its name from the natural springs located there.

Major Lakes

• Beaver Lake
• Bull Shoals Lake
• DeGray Lake
• Greers Ferry Lake
• Harris Break Lake
• Lake Chicot
• Lake Dardanelle
• Lake Earling
• Lake Fort Smith
• Lake Frierson
• Lake Greeson
• Lake Hamilton
• Lake Ouachita
• Lake Poinsett
• Millwood Lake
• Norfolk Lake
• Table Rock Lake

Major Rivers

• Arkansas River
• Buffalo National River
• Caddo River
• Crooked Creek
• Kings River
• Mississippi River
• Mulberry River
• Ouachita River
• Red River
• St. Francis River
• White River

State and National Parks: Arkansas has over fifty state parks and seven national parks. One of the most significant state parks is Louisiana Purchase Historic State Park, marking where the United States began surveying the Louisiana Territory in 1815. Another important state park is the Civil War battlefield at Prairie Grove (December 7, 1862). The Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, located on an old farm over a volcanic pipe geological formation, is an immense diamond reserve where visitors are allowed to keep any diamonds they find. It is considered the only publicly accessible diamond-bearing site in the world.

National parks include Arkansas Post National Memorial, which commemorates early European settlement; Pea Ridge National Military Park, on the site of a Civil War battlefield; and Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, marking school integration in the 1950s.

Natural Resources: One of Arkansas’s most important natural resources is its rich soil, which annually grows large quantities of soybeans, rice, and cotton. Other agricultural resources include dairy cattle and broiler chickens. Commercial fishing for catfish is also important. Mineral resources include bauxite, petroleum, natural gas, and bromine. Arkansas is also the home of North America’s first diamond mine (now the site of the Crater of Diamonds State Park). The Natural State is also the nation’s leading producer of bauxite and bromine, as well as of quartz crystal. A large part of Arkansas is covered by forests—largely pine and oak.

Plants and Animals: When first settled by Europeans, the Arkansas region was rich in wild species, including the bison and the brown bear. Hunting and human settlement have done away with the immense bison herds, and mostly destroyed the bear populations. The beaver, otter, fox, and deer populations have also been drastically reduced. More typical animals are small mammals such as rabbits, opossum, and squirrels. There are also many small game birds such as quail and pheasant.

Arkansas has a rich forest cover—over half the state is wooded. The Mississippi Delta region is covered with fauna typical of the deep South, such as cypress trees, Spanish moss, and water oaks. The Ouachita and Ozark Mountains are covered with oak and hickory, as in other parts of the eastern United States. In the highlands, one also finds pines, dogwoods, and cedars.

Climate: As part of the southeastern United States, Arkansas has relatively mild winters but long, hot, and humid summers. Snowfall and rainfall vary by region—the northwestern highlands receive more snow and the Delta region receives more rain. Snowfall in the Ozarks and Ouachita Mountains averages about 10.4 inches annually, while the Delta lowlands receive only around 2.8 inches. Conversely, rain falls more heavily in the Delta region (50–55 inches annually), as opposed to about 45 inches annually in the highlands.

EDUCATION AND CULTURE

Major Colleges and Universities

• Arkansas Baptist College (Little Rock)
• Arkansas State University (Jonesboro)
• Arkansas Tech University (Russellville)
• Harding University (Searcy)
• Henderson State University (Arkadelphia)
• Hendrix College (Conway)
• John Brown University (Siloam Springs)
• Lyon College (Batesville)
• Ouachita Baptist University (Arkadelphia)
• Philander Smith College (Little Rock)
• Southern Arkansas University (Magnolia)
• University of Arkansas (Fayetteville, Little Rock, Pine Bluff, Monticello, Fort Smith)
• University of Central Arkansas (Conway)
• University of the Ozarks (Clarksville)

Major Museums

• Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (Little Rock)
• Arkansas State University Museum (Jonesboro)
• Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (Bentonville)
• Historic Arkansas Museum (Little Rock)
• Mid-America Science Museum (Hot Springs)
• Museum of Discovery (Little Rock)
• Museum of Native American History (Bentonville)
• Old State House Museum (Little Rock)
• Shiloh Museum of Ozark History (Springdale)
• Southeast Arkansas Arts and Science Center (Pine Bluff)
• University of Arkansas Museum (Fayetteville)

Major Libraries

• Arkansas State Archives (Little Rock)
• Arkansas State Library (Little Rock)
• David W. Mullins Library, University of Arkansas (Fayetteville)
• National Agricultural Law Center (Fayetteville)
• University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law Library (Little Rock)
• William F. Laman Public Library Central Library (North Little Rock)

Media: Arkansas has numerous daily and weekly newspapers. Little Rock, the state capital, is served by the daily Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, a paper with a statewide circulation. The city is also served by publications such as Arkansas Business and the Arkansas Times. The state has hundreds of television and radio stations, with Little Rock being the largest market.

ECONOMY AND INFRASTRUCTURE

• Gross domestic product (in millions $USD): 165,220.6 (ranked 34th) (2022 estimate)
• GDP percent change: 2.6%

Major Industries: Arkansas in the nineteenth century was almost wholly agricultural, relying on “King Cotton” as the main cash crop. Following the Civil War agriculture diversified into food crops, poultry, and dairy farming, although cotton is still important. Arkansas has also become industrialized, with a strong manufacturing sector. Manufacturers include those producing food, lumber and paper, machinery and machine parts, automobile parts, and furniture. The state also produces minerals such as bromine, petroleum, and bauxite. Arkansas also contains many corporate headquarters, including retail giant Walmart and trucking company J. B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. The federal military installation Pine Bluff Arsenal is located in Jefferson County, Arkansas, and provides the state with hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue.

Tourism: Arkansas has a thriving tourist industry that brings in billions of dollars each year. Although like most states it saw a sharp decline in visitation and tourist spending in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry quickly recovered, with a new record of over 41 million visitors reported in 2021. Arkansas' state parks are a major draw, attracting millions of people each year. Cultural sites include the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, and the Passion Play in Eureka Springs. Hot Springs National Park, is the site of around fifty geothermal springs, where many prominent visitors undergo water therapy. The William J. Clinton Birthplace is located in the town of Hope.

Outdoor activities are also popular, such as whitewater rafting along the Buffalo National River in the Ozarks. Another popular outdoor activity is diamond mining at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro.

Energy Production: Arkansas relies on a mixture of conventional and nuclear energy. While the state’s primary energy source was historically coal, natural gas became the leading fuel in the 2020s. The state has a two-unit nuclear power plant, known as Arkansas Nuclear One (ANO), in Pope County that began operation in the 1970s. Arkansas also has multiple biodiesel manufacturing plants.

Agriculture: As noted above, Arkansas was almost wholly agricultural until after the Civil War, with cotton as the main cash crop. After the war, Arkansas farmers diversified into raising food crops such as soybeans, sorghum, and rice. Though no longer “king,” cotton is still an important crop. Dairy and poultry farming are also important. Agricultural activities were valued at approximately $16 billion annually by the state's Farm Bureau in 2023. This includes forestry and commercial fishing (for species such as catfish).

Airports: Arkansas has a well-developed air transportation system, with approximately one hundred public-use airports. Little Rock National Airport has direct commercial flights to many major US cities, and also serves charter, private, and business aircraft. The airport also serves as a major freight hub. Eastern Arkansas is also served by Memphis International Airport in neighboring Tennessee. Regional airports are found in cities including El Dorado, Hot Springs, Jonesboro, and Texarkana. The former Eaker Air Force Base in Blytheville became the Arkansas Aeroplex, a combination of commercial airstrip and industrial park.

Seaports: Arkansas lies within several major river systems, which provide over one thousand miles of commercially navigable waterways. The five waterways designated for this purpose are the Mississippi, Ouachita, Red, and White Rivers, as well as the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. The state possesses numerous public ports which handle national and international commerce. The Mississippi has four such ports: Osceola, West Memphis, Helena, and Yellow Bend (near McGehee). The Ouachita has public ports at Crossett and Camden. The McClellan-Kerr system has ports at Fort Smith, Little Rock, and Pine Bluff.

GOVERNMENT

• Governor: Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Republican)
• Present constitution date: 1874
• Electoral votes: 6
• Number of counties: 75
• Violent crime rate: 671.9 (per 100,000 residents) (2020)
• Death penalty: Yes

Constitution: Arkansas’s current constitution, the state’s fifth, was adopted in 1874. The previous constitutions were adopted at statehood in 1836, in 1861 when Arkansas joined the Confederacy, in 1864 following reestablishment of a Union government, and in 1868 during Reconstruction.

Branches of Government

Executive: The governor is the state’s chief executive officer, with duties including proposing and vetoing legislation, establishing a state budget, and overseeing the activities of the state’s executive departments. In addition, the governor serves as commander in chief of the state’s military forces.

The lieutenant governor serves as governor if the incumbent resigns, is impeached, or is incapable of performing official functions. The lieutenant governor’s other functions include serving as president of the state senate, voting only to break ties. The office of lieutenant governor was created by referendum in 1915, but because of confusion about the vote totals, no one filled the post until 1926.

The other constitutional officers of Arkansas are the secretary of state, the treasurer of state, the auditor of state, and the attorney general.

Legislative: The Arkansas General Assembly has two houses: the state senate, or upper house, and the house of representatives, or lower house. The senate has thirty-five members, elected to four-year terms. The house of representatives has one hundred members, who are elected to two-year terms.

Judicial: The highest court in Arkansas is the state supreme court, which serves as the court of ultimate appeal. Its membership includes one chief justice and six associate justices, all of whom are elected by statewide vote for an eight-year term. Beneath the high court is the twelve-member court of appeals, which was created in 1978 to relieve the appellate case load on the supreme court. The court’s membership includes a chief justice and eleven judges. They are individually elected by circuit-wide vote for an eight-year term. The Arkansas Circuit Court, the state’s court of general jurisdiction, handles cases of law and of equity. There are five divisions within the circuit court: criminal, civil, probate, domestic relations, and juvenile. Judges are elected to six-year terms, in nonpartisan elections. Arkansas also has two courts of limited jurisdiction: district court and city court.

HISTORY

1541 Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto visits an American Indian village near the site of present-day Parkin, Arkansas.

1682 French explorer Robert Cavalier, Sieur de Salle, claims the Mississippi River Valley for France.

1686 French explorer Henri de Tonti establishes the settlement of Arkansas Post (Poste de Arkansea), at the Quapaw Indian village of Ostuoy. Located near the Arkansas River, this trading post is the first European settlement along the lower Mississippi River. Because of this, de Tonti becomes known as the “Father of Arkansas.”

1762 France cedes the Louisiana Territory to Spain, which tries to encourage White settlement. By 1799, however, there are no more than four hundred White settlers in the area.

1775–83 The American Revolution. The Colbert incident between Spanish forces and pro-British partisans is the only military action to take place in Arkansas during the Revolution.

1803 The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million. This territory includes the land comprising present-day Arkansas.

1806 The legislature of the Louisiana Territory creates the District of Arkansas.

1812 Arkansas is made part of the Missouri Territory.

1819 The Arkansas Territory is created out of the Missouri Territory. Arkansas Post, the region’s largest city, becomes the first territorial capital and holds that status until 1821.

1815 By order of President James Madison, the United States begins surveying the Louisiana Territory, starting from a point in the eastern Arkansas swamps.

1821 The territorial capital moves from Arkansas Post to more centrally located Little Rock.

1824 The frontier community of Washington is founded. An important settlement along the Southwest Trail, it provides a stop for Texas-bound pioneers.

1836 Arkansas becomes the twenty-fifth state to join the Union. It enters as a slave state under the terms of the Missouri Compromise, which is intended to maintain the North-South political balance in the US Senate. In order to provide the counterbalancing free state, Michigan enters the Union the following year as the twenty-sixth state.

1861–65 The Civil War. Arkansas secedes from the Union in 1861. Several major battles take place in Arkansas because of the state’s strategic position along the Mississippi River. Both sides see it as a door into the southwestern United States. In March 1862, about 26,000 soldiers on both sides fight at the Battle of Pea Ridge. This battle, the largest west of the Mississippi, ensures Union control of Missouri for the rest of the war. In December 1862, Union forces seize the Confederate-held Fort Smith. The year 1863 sees the Battles of Arkansas Post (in January) and of Helena (July 4). Little Rock is occupied by Union troops on September 10, 1863, and the Confederate state government moves to Washington, Arkansas. A pro-Union government is established in Little Rock in 1864.

1865–74 Reconstruction lasts from the war’s end until 1874, when the Brooks-Baxter War breaks out between factions within the ruling Republican Party. Opponents of incumbent Governor Elisha Baxter depose him and install their own candidate, Brooks. President Ulysses S. Grant ultimately intervenes and recognizes Baxter’s authority, an event which ends Reconstruction in the state.

1874 With the end of Reconstruction, the Arkansas Democratic Party achieves political dominance for the rest of the nineteenth century. It bases its political platform on racism, using violence to prevent African Americans from voting.

1901 Natural gas is discovered near Fort Smith and becomes a major natural resource for the state economy.

1918 Arkansas gives women the right to vote. In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution gives this right to all US women.

1921 The first oil well is drilled in Arkansas.

1927 The Great Flood of 1927 causes damage throughout much of the state.

1941–45World War II. The US government opens several weapons-production facilities in Arkansas, including the Army’s Pine Bluff Arsenal.

1954 The Supreme Court rules in Brown v. Board of Education that school segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. Orval Faubus of Combs is elected governor for the first time. Faubus initially opposes federally ordered integration of schools but later becomes a strong supporter of integration, serving as governor until 1966.

1957President Eisenhower sends federal troops to enforce integration of Little Rock Central High School. The troops protect the school’s nine African American students, known as the Little Rock Nine, from fierce harassment by local White residents.

1967 Winthrop Rockefeller, a member of the wealthy industrialist family, is elected the state’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction. He serves until 1971. He enacts many progressive reforms during his term as governor, including prison reform, a minimum-wage law, and restrictions on illegal gambling. He also works to bring more African Americans into state government positions.

1971 The state completes the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, a series of channels to waterborne freight transport.

1978 Law professor Bill Clinton, a native of Hope, is elected on a progressive Democratic platform to his first term as governor. He makes several political missteps during his administration, and he loses a 1980 reelection bid to Republican candidate Frank White.

1983 Bill Clinton is reelected as governor. He avoids the political mistakes of his first administration, and gains a national reputation as a leading centrist Democrat.

1989 The Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan goes bankrupt. This bank had backed the failed Whitewater Development Corporation, a real-estate venture in which Governor Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, are partners (They had originally invested in 1978, several months before he was first elected governor.) The controlling partners in the bank and Whitewater deal were James and Susan McDougal, friends of the Clintons. During Clinton’s presidency, Whitewater becomes the target of a federal investigation into alleged impropriety including improper political favors.

1992 Governor Bill Clinton is elected forty-second president of the United States, defeating incumbent George H. W. Bush.

1996 Governor Jim Guy Tucker, Bill Clinton’s successor, is found guilty of fraud in the Whitewater land-development case. Lieutenant Governor Mike Huckabee becomes governor. Win Rockefeller, son of former governor Winthrop Rockefeller, is elected lieutenant governor in a special election.

1998 Governor Huckabee and Lieutenant Governor Rockefeller are re-elected.

2005 A team of ornithologists working for the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology in Arkansas report sightings and other evidence of ivory-billed woodpeckers, a species not officially documented in the US since 1944 and widely considered extinct. The alleged sighting sets of a fresh wave of investigation and conservation efforts, but proves controversial among scientists.

2008 Former governor Mike Huckabee runs in the Republican presidential primary, finishing second in the delegate count behind Senator John McCain of Arizona.

2013 Democratic governor Mike Beebe vetoes the state’s voter identification law, which would require state residents to show accepted forms of photo identification in order to vote. The Arkansas General Assembly, which is largely Republican, overrides the governor’s veto.

2017 A monument of the Ten Commandments is controversially constructed and placed on the grounds of the State Capitol building and destroyed less than twenty-four hours later; the American Civil Liberties Union files suit, saying the monument is unconstitutional.

2018 Private fundraisers pay for the replacement of the Ten Commandments monument at the State Capitol. The Satanic Temple protests and subsequently formally requests that a statue, Baphomet, a winged, goat-headed figure, be installed on the State Capital Grounds, but is refused. Satanic Temple members are granted legal standing to challenge the installation of the Ten Commandments monument.

2019 In late May and early June, the Arkansas River rises to record-breaking levels, flooding communities in Arkansas and Oklahoma.

2020 Like all other states, Arkansas is disrupted by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Many businesses and services are shut down in an effort to stop the spread of the viral disease.

FAMOUS PEOPLE

Gilbert Maxwell “Bronco Billy” Anderson, 1880–1971 (Little Rock): Film actor, producer, and director.

Daisy Bates, 1914–99 (Huttig): Civil rights activist and newspaper publisher.

Frank Bonner, 1942–2021 (Little Rock): Television actor and director.

James Bridges, 1936–93 (Little Rock): Film director.

Lou Brock, 1939–2020 (El Dorado): Baseball player.

Jim Ed Brown, 1934–2015 (Sparkman): Country singer.

Dale Bumpers, 1925–2016 (Charleston): Governor of Arkansas and US senator.

Glen Campbell, 1936–2017 (Delight): Country singer and songwriter.

Sarah Caldwell, 1924–2006 (Fayetteville): Opera conductor.

Johnny Cash, 1932–2003 (Kingsland): Country singer.

Eldridge Cleaver, 1935–98 (Wabbaseka): African American political activist and member of the Black Panthers.

Bill Clinton, 1946– (Hope): Governor of Arkansas and forty-second president of the United States.

Milton Crenchaw, 1919–2015 (Little Rock): Original member and trainer of the Tuskegee Airmen.

Jerome Herman “Dizzy” Dean, 1911–74 (Lucas): Baseball player.

William T. Dillard, 1914–2002 (Mineral Springs): Founder of national retail chain Dillards Department Stores.

Joycelyn Elders, 1933– (Schaal): Fifteenth surgeon general of the United States.

Orval E. Faubus, 1910–94 (Combs): Governor of Arkansas.

Al Green, 1946– (Forrest City): Singer.

John Grisham, 1955– (Jonesboro): Author.

Levon Helm, 1940–2012 (Elaine): Musician.

John H. Johnson, 1918–2005 (Arkansas City): Publisher.

Scott Joplin, 1868–1917 (Texarkana): Ragtime composer.

Alan Ladd, 1913–64 (Hot Springs): Film actor.

Douglas MacArthur, 1880–1964 (Little Rock): US Army general.

Scottie Pippen, 1965– (Hamburg): Basketball player.

Dick Powell, 1904–63 (Mountain View): Film actor, director, and producer.

Brooks Robinson, 1937– (Little Rock): Baseball player.

Mary Steenburgen, 1953– (North Little Rock): Actor.

Billy Bob Thornton, 1955– (Hot Springs): Actor.

Sam Walton, 1918–92 (Newport): Founder of national retail chain Walmart Stores.

C. Vann Woodward, 1908–99 (Vanndale): Historian.

TRIVIA

• The Old State House in Little Rock has the distinction of being the oldest standing state capitol west of the Mississippi River.
• The Trail of Tears runs through Arkansas. This is the route taken by the Cherokee during 1838–1839, when the federal government forced them to leave their ancestral lands in the East. Thousands died on this journey.
• Arkansas is the nation’s main producer of the ore bauxite. Used to make aluminum, the mineral was identified in 1887 by the Arkansas state geologist John C. Branner.
• Walmart, one of the world’s largest retail chains, is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. It was founded by Arkansas entrepreneur Sam Walton.
• Former Arkansas Lt. Governor Win Rockefeller and his father, Governor Winthrop Rockefeller, were descendents of famed business magnate John D. Rockefeller.
• The city of Mountain View is famous for its preservation of traditional American folk music. The Arkansas Folk Festival takes place there, and the city is home to one of the largest producers of handmade dulcimers.
• On New Year’s Eve 2010, thousands of red-winged blackbirds fell out of the sky in Beebe, Arkansas. The mass die-off was later attributed to blunt force trauma rather than disease or a toxic substance.

Bibliography

"Ag Facts." Arkansas Farm Bureau, www.arfb.com/pages/education/ag-facts/. Accessed 11 Sept. 2023.

"Arkansas." Quick Facts, US Census Bureau, 1 July 2022, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/AR/PST045222. Accessed 11 Sept. 2023.

"Arkansas: 2020 Census." US Census Bureau, 25 Aug. 2021, www.census.gov/library/stories/state-by-state/arkansas-population-change-between-census-decade.html. Accessed 18 Oct. 2021.

"Arkansas Memories: Interviews from the Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History." Arkansas Historical Quarterly, vol. 71, no. 3, 2012, pp. 314–20. Academic Search Premier, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=82558525&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 24 Apr. 2013.

"Arkansas: State Profile and Energy Estimates." US Energy Information Administration, 18 May 2023, www.eia.gov/state/?sid=AR. Accessed 11 Sept. 2023.

"Arkansas Tourism Releases 2021 Economic Impact Report." Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism, 13 Sept. 2022, www.arkansas.com/arkansas-tourism-releases-2021-economic-impact-report. Accessed 5 Oct. 2022.

Lancaster, Guy. "'There Are Not Many Colored People Here': African Americans in Polk County, Arkansas, 1896–1937." Arkansas Historical Quarterly, vol. 70, no. 4, 2011, pp. 429–49. Academic Search Premier, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=71702132&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 24 Apr. 2013.

Richards, Eugene. "Arkansas Delta Finding What Endures." National Geographic, vol. 222, no. 5, 2012, pp. 132–39. Academic Search Premier, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=82716789&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 24 Apr. 2013.

Silva, Rachel. "Arkansas Listings in the National Register of Historic Places." Arkansas Historical Quarterly, vol. 71, no. 3 , 2012, pp. 305–13. Academic Search Premier, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=82558524&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 24 Apr. 2013.

"Unemployment Rates for States, 2022 Annual Averages." Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1 Mar. 2023, www.bls.gov/lau/lastrk22.htm. Accessed 11 Sept. 2023.

Eric Badertscher