Tag Archives: Women’s History Month

Women’s History Month – Judge Elsijane Trimble Roy, first woman on Arkansas Supreme Court

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judge-trimbleElsijane Trimble Roy was born the daughter of a judge. At an early age, she knew she wanted to be an attorney.  She would eventually become not only the third female to graduate from the University of Arkansas Law School, but the first female circuit court judge in Arkansas, the first female on the Arkansas Supreme Court, and the first female Federal judge from Arkansas.

She was also the first woman in the United States to follow her father as federal judge.  She presided in the same courtroom where her father had served for 20 years. She retired in 1999 after 21 years on the federal bench.

Judge Roy has received many awards and honors including being selected Woman of the Year by the Business and Professional Woman’s Club in 1969, Arkansas Democrat Woman of the Year in 1976, an honor that her mother also received, and Outstanding Appellate Judge of 1976-1977 by the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association.

While she was on the Arkansas Supreme Court (to which she had been appointed by Governor David Pryor), she administered the oath of office to Anne Bartley to lead the Department of Arkansas Natural and Cultural Heritage.  Ms. Bartley became the first woman in an Arkansas Governor’s cabinet.  In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the federal bench to succeed Judge Oren Harris.

Women’s History Month – Anne Bartley, first woman to serve in Arkansas Governor’s cabinet

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bartley_255x320px_0In 1976, Anne Bartley was sworn in as the first director of what was then known as the Department of Arkansas Natural and Cultural Heritage.  In that capacity, she was the first woman to serve in an Arkansas Governor’s cabinet.  She had encouraged Governor David Pryor to propose establishing the department and then had lobbied the Arkansas General Assembly to create it.  (Her oath of office was administered by the first woman on the Arkansas Supreme Court, Justice Elsijane Trimble Roy.)

Since 1968, Bartley had been involved in historic preservation, promotion of the arts, and civic engagement.   In 1979, Bartley was asked to establish a Washington Office for the state of Arkanas.  She later was involved in founding the Threshold Foundation (1981), the Funders’ Committee for Citizen Participation (1983), the Forum Institute for Voter Participation (1986), the Faith and Politics Institute (1991), Vote Now ’92 and ’94, America Coming Together (2004), Democracy Alliance (2004), America Votes (2005), and, currently, the Committee on States.

Some of the boards she has served on have been the New World Foundation, the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, and the Rockefeller Family Fund. She is currently on the boards of the Bauman Family Foundation, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, America Votes, and on the Advisory Councils for Project New West and TAI SOPHIA.

Women’s History Month – Louise Loughborough, first female Little Rock Planning Commissioner

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louise_loughborough_fLouise Loughborough was the first woman to serve on the Little Rock Planning Commission.  Not only was the she first woman to serve on this body, she was the first to serve on any City commission other than the Board of Censors or Library Board.  Born Louisa Watkins Wright in Little Rock 1881, her ancestors included many early Arkansas leaders including Little Rock Mayor David Fulton.

In 1935, Loughborough was appointed to the Little Rock Planning Commission, and it was in this role that she first heard about the plan to condemn the half-block of houses that she had grown up admiring on Cumberland and East Third streets. Although the neighborhood had fallen on hard times, becoming a red-light district and slum, Loughborough feared the loss of several historic structures, including the Hinderliter House, the oldest building in Little Rock and thought to be Arkansas’s last territorial capitol. She mobilized a group of civic leaders to save these buildings. She enlisted the aid of prominent architect Max Mayer and coined the term “town of three capitols” to try to capture the imagination of potential supporters, grouping the “Territorial Capitol” with the Old State House and the State Capitol.

The Arkansas Territorial Restoration opened on July 19, 1941. The project was the first Arkansas agency committed to both the restoration of structures and the interpretation of their history, and it served as a model and inspiration for historic preservation in the state. Around the same time, she was a moving force behind the creation of a museum at the Old State House as well.  Today both Historic Arkansas Museum (as the Territorial Restoration is now known) and the Old State House Museum are agencies of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

As founding Chairman of the Arkansas Territorial Restoration Commission, Louise Loughborough provided daily direction for the museum house complex through the first twenty years of its existence. She died in Little Rock on December 10, 1962 and was buried at Mount Holly Cemetery.

Women’s History Month – Joan Adcock, longest serving Little Rock city director

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joan-adcockLongest serving Little Rock City Director: Joan Adcock

In November 2016, Director Adcock was elected to her seventh term on the Little Rock City Board of Directors.  She is the longest-serving City Director of either gender in that form of government in Little Rock history.  (Only two aldermen have served longer on a City of Little Rock legislative body.)

She was first elected to the City Board in 1992.  She has subsequently been elected in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012.  From January 1995 until December 1996, she served as Vice Mayor of Little Rock.

Director Adcock has been active in establishing neighborhood associations throughout the City. She is also active in Neighborhoods USA (NUSA) and has worked for Little Rock to host the national conference twice.  She has worked to establish the Landbank Authority and to create the Little Rock Animal Village.  Her latest creation is Working Together in the Community, which is focused on helping integrate the Hispanic population into Little Rock.

Women’s History Month – Sharon Priest, first person to serve as LR Mayor and a Constitutional officer

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glass-priestFirst woman to be both Little Rock Mayor and a Constitutional Officer: Sharon Priest

Sharon Priest served as Little Rock’s 70th Mayor from January 1991 until December 1992.  She was a member of the Little Rock City Board of Directors from January 1987 until December 1994.  She had previously been involved with the City Beautiful Commission prior to her service on the City Board.  She continued that involvement and was also a leader of the Arts and Humanities Promotion Commission, serving several terms as chair.

From January 1995 until January 2003, she was the 31st Secretary of State for Arkansas.  She was the first woman elected to the position. (Nancy Hall held it from 1961 to 1963 following the death of her husband, longtime Secretary of State C. G. “Crip” Hall.)

Following her service as Secretary of State, she directed the Downtown Little Rock Partnership from January 2003 until March 2015.

Women’s History Month – Lottie Shackelford, first woman to serve as Little Rock mayor

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Lottie at Civil RightsFirst woman mayor of Little Rock:  Lottie Shackelford

Lottie Shackelford served as mayor of Little Rock from January 1987 until December 1988. She was Little Rock’s 68th mayor and the first woman to serve in that capacity.  She was first appointed to the Little Rock Board of Directors in September 1978 to fill an unexpired term.  She later was elected in her own right and served until December 1992.  She was the first African American woman to ever serve on a governing body for the City of Little Rock.

She later served two terms on the Little Rock Airport Commission.  She also served as Vice Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1989 until 2014. She is the longest serving vice chair of the party.  She has been a delegate to every Democratic National Convention since 1980.

In recognition of all of her achievements, she has been included in the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail, the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame, and the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame.

Women’s History Month – Irma Hunter Brown, African American woman elected to Arkansas General Assembly

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glass-brownFirst African American woman to be elected to the Arkansas General Assembly: Irma Hunter Brown

Mrs. Brown served in the House of Representatives from January 1981 until January 2003.  She was the first African American woman to be elected to the Arkansas General Assembly in either house.

In 2003, she was sworn in as a State Senator, becoming the first African American woman in that body, as well.  In recognition of these achievements and her service in the Arkansas General Assembly from 1981 until 2009.

In 2015, she was included in the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail.  Other honors include recipient of the Distinguished Citizen award, Philander Smith College, Little Rock, 1981; fellow, Institute Politics, 1975.