Kelly Jones is Assistant Professor of History at Arkansas Tech University. This interview is based on her new book, A Weary Land: Slavery on the Ground in Arkansas (University of Georgia Press, 2021). JF: What led you to write A […]
Arkansas
Arkansas state senator and nephew of governor Asa Hutchinson is leaving the GOP
Here is ABC News: A longtime Arkansas legislator and nephew of the state’s Republican governor said Thursday that he’s leaving the GOP, citing Donald Trump‘s rhetoric and the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol by the former president’s supporters. State Sen. […]
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is running for governor of Arkansas
Here we go: For about two years Sarah Huckabee Sanders stood-up and lied for Donald Trump. Now she is running for governor of Arkansas in 2022. Her opponents in the GOP primary include Lieutenant Governor and former U.S. representative Tim […]
“One pastor said half of his church is ready to lick the floor, to prove there’s no actual virus”
Here is a taste of a report from The Washington Post on how one group of churches in Arkansas decided to deal with Sunday services today: In Arkansas, the Rev. Josh King met with the pastors of five other churches […]
Robb Ryerse: An Evangelical, Pro Gay Rights, Small Government, Medicare for All, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Confederate Monument, Pro Tax Reform, and Green Energy Republican Who Ran for Congress in 2018
Learn more here: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyWvVDU23RU&w=560&h=315] Ryerse is a graduate of Summit University (formerly Baptist Bible College) in Clarks Summit, PA and Biblical Theological Seminary in Hatfield, PA. Summit University has roots in the fundamentalist General Association of Regular Baptist Churches. […]
“One turkey thrown out of a plane is a tragicomedy; 46 million turkeys killed in a slaughterhouse is Thanksgiving dinner”
Over at The Atlantic, Anne Lowrey writes about Yellville, Arkansas, a place where they throw turkeys out of planes. (NOTE: This story is not about Les Nessman or WKRP in Cincinnati, although this episode of the well-known sitcom is mentioned in […]
The *Believe Me* Book Tour Comes to Northwest Arkansas
I spent the day on Wednesday at John Brown University (JBU) in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. (It was my first trip to the “Natural State”). Trisha Posey, Director of the University Honors Program, and Daniel Bennett, Assistant Professor of Political Science, invited […]
Mark Silk: “I get why Michael Tate Reed destroyed the Ten Commandments”
Earlier this week I wrote a piece on Arkansas’s decision to place a monument commemorating the Ten Commandments at the State Capitol in Little Rock. The day after the monument was erected, a guy named Michael Tate Reed drove his […]
On the Ten Commandments Monument in Arkansas
Here we go again. A Ten Commandments monument now sits outside the Arkansas Capitol in Little Rock. As some monuments are taken down in the United States, others go up. If we have learned one thing through the recent and ongoing […]
The Mississippi River: The Flow of Religion, Tourism, and Music
Our reports from the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians (OAH) continue to roll into The Way of Improvement Leads Home. This report comes from Melissa Daggett, an instructor of United States history at San Jacinto College in […]
Should Howard Zinn Be Banned in Public Schools?
Kim Hendren, an Arkansas state legislator, wants to ban Howard Zinn‘s books from Arkansas public schools. Here is a taste of a news story from “Common Dreams” website: A Republican Arkansas lawmaker has introduced legislation to ban the works of […]
The Head Football Coach at the University of Arkansas Was an "MBA History Professor of European Religions."
OK, not really. But for a moment I was wondering if I should add “find a wife” to my So What CAN You Do With a History Major? series.” Read about Bret Bielema‘s “career” as a history professor at Fox […]