Category Archives: Government

Tonight at Clinton School – Discussion of Thurgood Marshall and 1949 Groveland Boys Case

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UACS DevilBefore he was on the Supreme Court, before he supported the Little Rock Nine, before Brown v. Board of Education, Thurgood Marshall was a longtime crusader not just for civil rights, but for human rights.  T

Tonight at the Clinton School, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Gilbert King, Justice Marshall’s son, Thurgood Marshall, Jr., will discuss the 1949 Groveland Boys case.

Gilbert King is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys and the Dawn of a New America. The book, about four black men falsely accused of raping Norma Lee Padgett, a 17-year-old white woman in Groveland, Fla. in 1949, unearthed a largely forgotten chapter in the long history of racial injustice in the United States, and explored, in painstaking details, the tactics used by Thurgood Marshall, the future Supreme Court Justice, to chip away at the foundations of Jim Crow law.

The program will begin at 6pm at the Clinton School of Public Service.  A book signing will follow.

Wild Wines tonight at the Little Rock Zoo

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6_yaya_11713_wild_winesJoin us for an event like no other at the wildest venue around – the Little Rock Zoo!

Wild Wines, sponsored by Wright, Lindsey & Jennings, is a culinary and wine experience featuring dozens of hand selected wines from O’Looney’s Wine & Liquor paired with food from more than 50 of central Arkansas’s greatest restaurants. There’s so much food and so much wine that many guests find it hard to get to every station! Five live entertainment areas keep guests moving through the night and animal friends are around each corner to greet guests along the way. Live DJ’s Poolboy and Tre’ Day will spin the after party in the Zoo’s main entry plaza.

A Reserve Room in Cafe Africa kicks-off the event at 6:00 p.m. with more exclusive wines and food prepared fresh by Cache. It’s a party like no other that you won’t want to miss! Mark your calendar now!

Each ticket comes with a souvenir glass and plate.
Must be 21 or older to attend. Please bring ID.
Online tickets will be available now through Saturday, May 2nd, at 3:00 p.m. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door. Wild Wines sells-out every year and the Zoo strongly encourages guests to buy tickets in advance to guarantee admission.

Heritage Month – Leiper-Scott House

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Leiper ScottMay is Heritage Month in Arkansas.  This month, the Culture Vulture will feature properties on the National Register of Historic Places which are located in Little Rock.  First is the Leiper-Scott House.

The Leiper-Scott House is a one-story structure located at 312 South Pulaski, two blocks east of the State Capitol.

It was built on a lot which slopes abruptly to the rear. Therefore its basement on the rear or west elevation is exposed. The building has a cottage-style plan, combining hip and gable roof form, an asymmetrical front facade, and one floor of usable living space. It is an adaptation of a plan that was popular between 1880 and World War I for modest, low-cost housing.

The Leiper-Scott House is transitional in style, with both Queen Anne and Colonial Revival characteristics. The massing of the building, the steep pitches of the roof and the use of slate infilll in the south elevation pediment are characteristics of the Queen Anne style. Colonial Revival elements include tracery windows, round Roman arches, hipped dormer, Tuscan columns and gable returns.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places 35 years ago today on May 1, 1980.

 

Little Rock Look Back: Mayor Lottie Shackelford

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Mayor Lottie_ShackelfordOn April 30, 1941, future Little Rock Mayor Lottie Shackelford was born. Throughout her career in public service she has been a trailblazer.

Active in community activities and politics, she ran for the City Board in 1974 and lost.  But she was appointed to the Little Rock City Board in September 1978 to fill a vacancy.  This made her the first African American woman to serve on he City Board, and indeed on any governing board for the City (during Reconstruction, there were at least three African Americans on the City Council, but they were all men.) She was subsequently elected to a full-term on the City Board in 1980 winning 55% of the vote over three male candidates.

She was subsequently re-elected in 1984 (unopposed) and in 1988 (with 60% of the vote).

In January 1987, Shackelford became the first female mayor of Little Rock when she was chosen by her colleagues on the City Board to serve in that position. She was Mayor until December 1988.

From 1982 until 1992, she served as Executive Director of the Arkansas Regional Minority Purchasing Council.  She left that position to serve as Deputy Campaign Manager of Clinton for President.  She subsequently served on the Clinton/Gore transition team. She later served on the Overseas Private Investment Corporation from 1993 to 2003. She was the first African American to be in that position.

A graduate of Philander Smith College, she has also studied at the Arkansas Institute of Politics at Hendrix College and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Mayor Shackelford has also served on numerous boards including the Little Rock Airport Commission, Philander Smith College, Chapman Funds (Maryland) and Medicis Pharmaceutical Corporation (Arizona).  She has been the longest serving Vice-Chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Mayor Shackelford was in the first class of inductees for the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.

Little Rock Look Back: Major Nicholas Peay

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LR sealOn April 28, 1784, in Virginia, future Little Rock Alderman (and acting Mayor) Major Nicholas Peay was born the eleventh of at least thirteen children.  (His gravestone lists a May date for his birth, but other records indicate April 28, 1784.) A veteran of the War of 1812 and the Indian Wars, he later moved to Kentucky (where he met and married his wife, Juliet Neill, in 1814) before settling in Arkansas on September 18, 1825.  At the time, they were the ninth family to set up residence in Little Rock.

After arriving in Little Rock, he bought the Little Rock Tavern. This started a fifty year tradition of his family owning taverns and hotels in Little Rock. In 1828, he was appointed Assistant Postmaster of Little Rock.  From 1825 to 1831, Little Rock residents were allowed to elect five Trustees prior to the formal incorporation. Major Peay was one of those who served on the Board of Trustees.

He later served on the Little Rock City Council, and in 1839 served for seven months as Acting Mayor due to the prolonged absence of Mayor Jesse Brown.  In 1841, his friend Gen. Zachary Taylor, paid a visit to Little Rock and stayed with him on the General’s way to Fort Smith.

Nicholas and Juliet Peay had at least eleven children, though only five appeared to have lived until adulthood. One of those, Gordon Neill Peay, served as Little Rock’s 23rd Mayor from 1859 to 1861. Other descendants of Nicholas Peay who followed him into public service include his grandson Ashley Peay, who was an Alderman in the 1920s (son of John Coleman Peay) and great-great-grandson Joseph B. Hurst (a great-grandson of Mayor Peay), who was a City Director from 1967 to 1970. In addition, Hurst’s daughter-in-law, Stacy Hurst served three terms on the City Board from 2003 to 2014; she is now Director of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Major Peay’s egg-nog recipe has been passed down for generations. It is the inspiration for the Historic Arkansas Museum yearly Nog-Off.  This past year, museum director Bill Worthen and his daughter were the sixth and seventh generation of the family to make Peay’s egg-nog. The Worthens are descended from Mayor Peay’s son who was also named Gordon Neill Peay.

Major Nicholas Peay is buried with his wife and many other family members in Mount Holly Cemetery.

Little Rock Look Back: Mayor Sam Wassell

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S WassellOn this date in 1883, future Little Rock Mayor Sam M. Wassell was born.  His grandfather John W. Wassell had been appointed Mayor of Little Rock in 1868.  He is the only Little Rock Mayor to be a grandson of another Little Rock Mayor.

Sam Wassell served on the Little Rock City Council from 1928 through 1934 and again from 1940 through 1946.  He is one of the few 20th Century Little Rock Mayors who previously served on the City Council.

Wassell was an attorney.  He practiced law privately and also served as an Assistant US Attorney.  In 1930, he ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for the US Congress representing the 5th Congressional District, which at the time included Little Rock.

Wassell ran for Mayor in 1947 and was unopposed in the general election.  He was unopposed in his bid for re-election in 1949.  During his second term, President Harry S. Truman visited Little Rock.  In 1951, he sought a third term as Mayor.  No Little Rock Mayor had sought a third consecutive term since 1923.  Though he received the Democratic nomination, the Republican party nominated Pratt Remmel who defeated Wassell by a 2 to 1 margin.

With a new USS Little Rock under construction, it is interesting to note that Mrs. Sam Wassell christened the previous USS Little Rock in 1944.  At the time, she was a City Councilor’s wife.

Mayor Wassell died on December 23, 1954 and is buried at Roselawn Cemetery in Little Rock.

Seersucker Social at Old State House Museum tonight

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OSH SeersuckerThe Fourth Annual Seersucker Social takes place tonight at the Old State House Museum from 6pm to 9pm.

This year’s edition is sponsored by Little Rock Soiree. The Seersucker Social is the signature event of the Old State House 1836 Club.  The evening promises plenty of lawn games, hors d’oeuvres, mint juleps and live music by the Big Steel River Band.

This year, all proceeds will benefit the School Bus Fund to bring K-12 students from all over Arkansas to the Old State House Museum.

Tickets are $40. 21+ only. For more information, contact brooke@arkansasheritage.org

The Old State House Museum is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.