- Arkansas (/ˈɑːrkənsɔː/ AR-kən-saw[c]) is a state in the southeastern region of the United States, home to over 3 million people as of 2017.[7][8] Its name is of Siouan derivation from the language of the Osage denoting their related kin, the Quapaw Indians.[9] The state's diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozark and the Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U.S. Interior Highlands, to the densely forested land in the south known as the Arkansas Timberlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River and the Arkansas Delta.
Arkansas is the 29th largest by area and the 33rd most populous of the 50 United States. The capital and most populous city is Little Rock, located in the central portion of the state, a hub for transportation, business, culture, and government. The northwestern corner of the state, such as the Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers Metropolitan Area and Fort Smith metropolitan area, is a population, education, and economic center. The largest city in the state's eastern part is Jonesboro. The largest city in the state's southeastern part is Pine Bluff.
The Territory of Arkansas was admitted to the Union as the 25th state on June 15, 1836.[10] In 1861 Arkansas withdrew from the United States and joined the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. On returning to the Union in 1868, the state continued to suffer due to its earlier reliance on slavery and the plantation economy, causing the state to fall behind economically and socially. White rural interests continued to dominate the state's politics until the Civil Rights Movement. Arkansas began to diversify its economy following World War II and relies on its service industry, aircraft, poultry, steel, tourism, cotton, and rice.
The culture of Arkansas is observable in museums, theaters, novels, television shows, restaurants, and athletic venues across the state. Arkansas's enduring image has earned the state "a special place in the American consciousness".[11] People such as politician and educational advocate William Fulbright; former President Bill Clinton who served as the 40th and 42nd Governor of Arkansas; his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark, Walmart magnate Sam Walton;[12] singer-songwriters Johnny Cash and Glen Campbell; the poet C.D. Wright; and physicist William L. McMillan, who was a pioneer in superconductor research; have all lived in Arkansas.
Contents
Etymology
The name Arkansas derives from the same root as the name for the state of Kansas. The Kansa tribe of Native Americans are closely associated with the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains. The word "Arkansas" itself is a French pronunciation ("Arcansas") of a Quapaw (a related "Kaw" tribe) word, akakaze, meaning "land of downriver people" or the Sioux word akakaze meaning "people of the south wind".
In 1881, the pronunciation of Arkansas with the final "s" being silent was made official by an act of the state legislature after a dispute arose between Arkansas's two U.S. senators as one favored the pronunciation as /ˈɑːrkənsɔː/ AR-kən-saw while the other favored /ɑːrˈkænzəs/ ar-KAN-zəs.[c]
In 2007, the state legislature passed a non-binding resolution declaring that the possessive form of the state's name is Arkansas's, which has been followed increasingly by the state government.[14]
Geography
Boundaries
Arkansas borders Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, Oklahoma to the west, Missouri to the north, as well as Tennessee and Mississippi on the east. The United States Census Bureau classifies Arkansas as a southern state, sub-categorized among the West South Central States.[8] The Mississippi River forms most of Arkansas's eastern border, except in Clay and Greene, counties where the St. Francis River forms the western boundary of the Missouri Bootheel, and in many places where the channel of the Mississippi has meandered (or been straightened by man) from its original 1836 course.
Terrain
Arkansas can generally be split into two halves, the highlands in the northwest half and the lowlands of the southeastern half.[15] The highlands are part of the Southern Interior Highlands, including The Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains. The southern lowlands include the Gulf Coastal Plain and the Arkansas Delta.[16] This dual split can yield to general regions named northwest, southwest, northeast, southeast, or central Arkansas. These directionally named regions are broad and not defined along county lines. Arkansas has seven distinct natural regions: the Ozark Mountains, Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas River Valley, Gulf Coastal Plain, Crowley's Ridge, and the Arkansas Delta, with Central Arkansas sometimes included as a blend of multiple regions.[17]
The southeastern part of Arkansas along the Mississippi Alluvial Plain is sometimes called the Arkansas Delta. This region is a flat landscape of rich alluvial soils formed by repeated flooding of the adjacent Mississippi. Farther away from the river, in the southeast portion of the state, the Grand Prairie consists of a more undulating landscape. Both are fertile agricultural areas. The Delta region is bisected by a geological formation known as Crowley's Ridge. A narrow band of rolling hills, Crowley's Ridge rises from 250 to 500 feet (76 to 152 m) above the surrounding alluvial plain and underlies many of the major towns of eastern Arkansas.[18]
Northwest Arkansas is part of the Ozark Plateau including the Ozark Mountains, to the south are the Ouachita Mountains, and these regions are divided by the Arkansas River; the southern and eastern parts of Arkansas are called the Lowlands.[19] These mountain ranges are part of the U.S. Interior Highlands region, the only major mountainous region between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains.[20] The highest point in the state is Mount Magazine in the Ouachita Mountains,[21] which rises to 2,753 feet (839 m) above sea level.[6]
Hydrology
Arkansas is home to many caves, such as Blanchard Springs Caverns. More than 43,000 Native American living, hunting and tool making sites, many of them Pre-Columbian burial mounds and rock shelters, have been cataloged by the State Archeologist. Crater of Diamonds State Park near Murfreesboro is the world's only diamond-bearing site accessible to the public for digging.[25][26] Arkansas is home to a dozen Wilderness Areas totaling 158,444 acres (641.20 km2).[27] These areas are set aside for outdoor recreation and are open to hunting, fishing, hiking, and primitive camping. No mechanized vehicles nor developed campgrounds are allowed in these areas.[28]
Flora and fauna
Arkansas's plant life varies with its climate and elevation. The pine belt stretching from the Arkansas delta to Texas consists of dense oak-hickory-pine growth. Lumbering and paper milling activity is active throughout the region.[34] In eastern Arkansas, one can find Taxodium (cypress), Quercus nigra (water oaks), and hickories with their roots submerged in the Mississippi Valley bayous indicative of the deep south.[35] Nearby Crowley's Ridge is only home of the tulip tree in the state, and generally hosts more northeastern plant life such as the beech tree.[36] The northwestern highlands are covered in an oak-hickory mixture, with Ozark white cedars, cornus (dogwoods), and Cercis canadensis (redbuds) also present. The higher peaks in the Arkansas River Valley play host to scores of ferns, including the Woodsia scopulina and Adiantum (maidenhair fern) on Mount Magazine.[37]
Climate
Arkansas is known for extreme weather and frequent storms. A typical year brings thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail, snow and ice storms. Between both the Great Plains and the Gulf States, Arkansas receives around 60 days of thunderstorms. Arkansas is located in Tornado Alley, and as a result, a few of the most destructive tornadoes in U.S. history have struck the state. While sufficiently far from the coast to avoid a direct hit from a hurricane, Arkansas can often get the remnants of a tropical system, which dumps tremendous amounts of rain in a short time and often spawns smaller tornadoes.
Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures For Various Arkansas Cities City Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Avg Fayetteville[40] 44/24
(7/-4)51/29
(10/-2)59/38
(15/3)69/46
(20/8)76/55
(24/13)84/64
(29/18)89/69
(32/20)89/67
(32/19)81/59
(27/15)70/47
(21/9)57/37
(14/3)48/28
(9/-2)68/47
(20/8)Jonesboro[41] 45/26
(7/-3)51/30
(11/-1)61/40
(16/4)71/49
(22/9)80/58
(26/15)88/67
(31/19)92/71
(34/22)91/69
(33/20)84/61
(29/16)74/49
(23/9)60/39
(15/4)49/30
(10/-1)71/49
(21/9)Little Rock[42] 51/31
(11/-1)55/35
(13/2)64/43
(18/6)73/51
(23/11)81/61
(27/16)89/69
(32/21)93/73
(34/23)93/72
(34/22)86/65
(30/18)75/53
(24/12)63/42
(17/6)52/34
(11/1)73/51
(23/11)Texarkana[43] 53/31
(11/-1)58/34
(15/1)67/42
(19/5)75/50
(24/10)82/60
(28/16)89/68
(32/20)93/72
(34/22)93/71
(34/21)86/64
(30/18)76/52
(25/11)64/41
(18/5)55/33
(13/1)74/52
(23/11)Monticello[44] 52/30
(11/-1)58/34
(14/1)66/43
(19/6)74/49
(23/10)82/59
(28/15)89/66
(32/19)92/70
(34/21)92/68
(33/20)86/62
(30/17)76/50
(25/10)64/41
(18/5)55/34
(13/1)74/51
(23/10)Fort Smith[45] 48/27
(8/-2)54/32
(12/0)64/40
(17/4)73/49
(22/9)80/58
(26/14)87/67
(30/19)92/71
(33/21)92/70
(33/21)84/62
(29/17)75/50
(23/10)61/39
(16/4)50/31
(10/0)72/50
(22/10)Average high °F/average low °F (average high °C/average low°C) History
Early Arkansas
Whereas, confusion of practice has arisen in the pronunciation of the name of our state and it is deemed important that the true pronunciation should be determined for use in oral official proceedings.
And, whereas, the matter has been thoroughly investigated by the State Historical Society and the Eclectic Society of Little Rock, which have agreed upon the correct pronunciation as derived from history, and the early usage of the American immigrants.
Be it therefore resolved by both houses of the General Assembly, that the only true pronunciation of the name of the state, in the opinion of this body, is that received by the French from the native Indians and committed to writing in the French word representing the sound. It should be pronounced in three (3) syllables, with the final "s" silent, the "a" in each syllable with the Italian sound, and the accent on the first and last syllables. The pronunciation with the accent on the second syllable with the sound of "a" in "man" and the sounding of the terminal "s" is an innovation to be discouraged.
Citizens of the state of Kansas often pronounce the Arkansas River as /ɑːrˈkænzəs ˈrɪvər/, in a manner similar to the common pronunciation of the name of their state.
Settlers, such as fur trappers, moved to Arkansas in the early 18th century. These people used Arkansas Post as a home base and entrepôt.[49] During the colonial period, Arkansas changed hands between France and Spain following the Seven Years' War, although neither showed interest in the remote settlement of Arkansas Post.[51] In April 1783, Arkansas saw its only battle of the American Revolutionary War, a brief siege of the post by British Captain James Colbert with the assistance of the Choctaw and Chickasaw.[52]
Purchased by the United States
Slavery became a wedge issue in Arkansas, forming a geographic divide that remained for decades. Owners and operators of the cotton plantation economy in southeast Arkansas firmly supported slavery, as they perceived slave labor as the best or "only" economically viable method of harvesting their commodity crops.[55] The "hill country" of northwest Arkansas was unable to grow cotton and relied on a cash-scarce, subsistence farming economy.[56]
As European Americans settled throughout the East Coast and into the Midwest, in the 1830s the United States government forced the removal of many Native American tribes to Arkansas and Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River.
Additional Native American removals began in earnest during the territorial period, with final Quapaw removal complete by 1833 as they were pushed into Indian Territory.[57] The capital was relocated from Arkansas Post to Little Rock in 1821, during the territorial period.[58]
Statehood
Civil War and Reconstruction
In early antebellum Arkansas, the southeast Arkansas slave based economy developed rapidly. On the eve of the Civil War in 1860, enslaved African Americans numbered 111,115 people, just over 25% of the state's population.[60] Plantation agriculture set the state and region behind the nation for decades.[61] The wealth developed among planters of southeast Arkansas caused a political rift to form between the northwest and southeast.[62]
Many politicians were elected to office from the Family, the Southern rights political force in antebellum Arkansas. Residents generally wanted to avoid a civil war. When the Gulf states seceded in early 1861, Arkansas voted to remain in the Union.[62] Arkansas did not secede until Abraham Lincoln demanded Arkansas troops be sent to Fort Sumter to quell the rebellion there. On May 6, a state convention voted to terminate Arkansas's membership in the Union and join the Confederate States of America.[62]
Arkansas held a very important position for the Rebels, maintaining control of the Mississippi River and surrounding Southern states. The bloody Battle of Wilson's Creek just across the border in Missouri shocked many Arkansans who thought the war would be a quick and decisive Southern victory. Battles early in the war took place in northwest Arkansas, including the Battle of Cane Hill, Battle of Pea Ridge, and Battle of Prairie Grove. Union General Samuel Curtis swept across the state to Helena in the Delta in 1862. Little Rock was captured the following year. The government shifted the state Confederate capital to Hot Springs, and then again to Washington from 1863–1865, for the remainder of the war. Throughout the state, guerrilla warfare ravaged the countryside and destroyed cities.[63] Passion for the Confederate cause waned after implementation of programs such as the draft, high taxes, and martial law.
Under the Military Reconstruction Act, Congress declared Arkansas restored to the Union in June 1868, after the Legislature accepted the 14th Amendment. The Republican-controlled reconstruction legislature established universal male suffrage (though temporarily disfranchising former Confederate Army officers, who were all Democrats), a public education system for blacks and whites, and passed general issues to improve the state and help more of the population. The State soon came under control of the Radical Republicans and Unionists, and led by Governor Powell Clayton, they presided over a time of great upheaval as Confederate sympathizers and the Ku Klux Klan fought the new developments, particularly voting rights for African Americans.
End of the Reconstruction
In 1874, the Brooks-Baxter War, a political struggle between factions of the Republican Party shook Little Rock and the state governorship. It was settled only when President Ulysses S. Grant ordered Joseph Brooks to disperse his militant supporters.[64]
Following the Brooks-Baxter War, a new state constitution was ratified, re-enfranchising former Confederates.
In 1881, the Arkansas state legislature enacted a bill that adopted an official pronunciation of the state's name, to combat a controversy then simmering. (See Law and Government below.)
After Reconstruction, the state began to receive more immigrants and migrants. Chinese, Italian, and Syrian men were recruited for farm labor in the developing Delta region. None of these nationalities stayed long at farm labor; the Chinese especially quickly became small merchants in towns around the Delta. Many Chinese became such successful merchants in small towns that they were able to educate their children at college.[65]
Some early 20th-century immigration included people from eastern Europe. Together, these immigrants made the Delta more diverse than the rest of the state. In the same years, some black migrants moved into the area because of opportunities to develop the bottomlands and own their own property.
Rise of the Jim Crow Laws
In the late 1880s, the worsening agricultural depression catalyzed Populist and third party movements, leading to interracial coalitions. Struggling to stay in power, in the 1890s the Democrats in Arkansas followed other Southern states in passing legislation and constitutional amendments that disfranchised blacks and poor whites. Democrats wanted to prevent their alliance.[citation needed] In 1891 state legislators passed a requirement for a literacy test, knowing that it would exclude many blacks and whites. At the time when more than 25% of the population could neither read nor write. In 1892, they amended the state constitution to require a poll tax and more complex residency requirements, both of which adversely affected poor people and sharecroppers, forcing most blacks and many poor whites from voter rolls.
By 1900 the Democratic Party expanded use of the white primary in county and state elections, further denying blacks a part in the political process. Only in the primary was there any competition among candidates, as Democrats held all the power. The state was a Democratic one-party state for decades, until after passage of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 to enforce constitutional rights.[66]
Between 1905 and 1911, Arkansas began to receive a small immigration of German, Slovak, and Scots-Irish from Europe. The German and Slovak peoples settled in the eastern part of the state known as the Prairie, and the Irish founded small communities in the southeast part of the state. The Germans were mostly Lutheran and the Slovaks were primarily Catholic. The Irish were mostly Protestant from Ulster, of Scots and Northern Borders descent.
Based on the order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt given shortly after Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, nearly 16,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from the West Coast of the United States and incarcerated in two internment camp located in the Arkansas Delta.[67] The Rohwer Camp in Desha County operated from September 1942 to November 1945 and its peak interned 8,475 prisoners.[67] The Jerome War Relocation Center in Drew County operated from October 1942 to June 1944 and held c. 8,000 prisoners.[67]
Fall of Segregation
After the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas in 1954 that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, some students worked to integrate schools in the state. The Little Rock Nine brought Arkansas to national attention in 1957 when the Federal government had to intervene to protect African-American students trying to integrate a high school in the Arkansas capital. Governor Orval Faubus had ordered the Arkansas National Guard to aid segregationists in preventing nine African-American students from enrolling at Little Rock's Central High School. After attempting three times to contact Faubus, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent 1000 troops from the active-duty 101st Airborne Division to escort and protect the African-American students as they entered school on September 25, 1957. In defiance of federal court orders to integrate, the governor and city of Little Rock decided to close the high schools for the remainder of the school year. By the fall of 1959, the Little Rock high schools were completely integrated.[68]
Prominent American Figures from Arkansas
Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, was born in Hope, Arkansas. Before his presidency, Clinton served as the 40th and 42nd Governor of Arkansas, a total of nearly 12 years.
Cities and towns
The Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers Metropolitan Area is the second-largest metropolitan area in Arkansas, growing at the fastest rate due to the influx of businesses and the growth of the University of Arkansas and Walmart.[71]
The state has eight cities with populations above 50,000 (based on 2010 census). In descending order of size, they are: Little Rock, Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Springdale, Jonesboro, North Little Rock, Conway, and Rogers. Of these, only Fort Smith and Jonesboro are outside the two largest metropolitan areas. Other cities are located in Arkansas such as Pine Bluff, Crossett, Bryant, Lake Village, Hot Springs, Bentonville, Texarkana, Sherwood, Jacksonville, Russellville, Bella Vista, West Memphis, Paragould, Cabot, Searcy, Van Buren, El Dorado, Blytheville, Harrison, Dumas, Rison, Warren, and Mountain Home.
Demographics
Population
The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Arkansas was 2,978,204 on July 1, 2015, a 2.14% increase since the 2010 United States Census.[72]
As of 2015, Arkansas has an estimated population of 2,978,204.[72] From fewer than 15,000 in 1820, Arkansas's population grew to 52,240 during a special census in 1835, far exceeding the 40,000 required to apply for statehood.[73] Following statehood in 1836, the population doubled each decade until the 1870 Census conducted following the Civil War. The state recorded growth in each successive decade, although it gradually slowed in the 20th century.
It recorded population losses in the 1950 and 1960 Censuses. This outmigration was a result of multiple factors, including farm mechanization, decreasing labor demand, and young educated people leaving the state due to a lack of non-farming industry in the state.[74] Arkansas again began to grow, recording positive growth rates ever since and exceeding the 2 million mark during the 1980 Census.[75] Arkansas's rate of change, age distributions, and gender distributions mirror national averages. Minority group data also approximates national averages. There are fewer people in Arkansas of Hispanic or Latino origin than the national average.[76] The center of population of Arkansas for 2000 was located in Perry County, near Nogal.[77]
Historical population Census Pop. %± 1810 1,062 — 1820 14,273 1,244.0% 1830 30,388 112.9% 1840 97,574 221.1% 1850 209,897 115.1% 1860 435,450 107.5% 1870 484,471 11.3% 1880 802,525 65.6% 1890 1,128,211 40.6% 1900 1,311,564 16.3% 1910 1,574,449 20.0% 1920 1,752,204 11.3% 1930 1,854,482 5.8% 1940 1,949,387 5.1% 1950 1,909,511 −2.0% 1960 1,786,272 −6.5% 1970 1,923,295 7.7% 1980 2,286,435 18.9% 1990 2,350,725 2.8% 2000 2,673,400 13.7% 2010 2,915,918 9.1% Est. 2017 3,004,279 3.0% Source: 1910–2010[78]
2016 estimate[72]Ancestry
In terms of race and ethnicity, the state was 80.1% white (74.2% non-Hispanic white), 15.6% black or African American, 0.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3% Asian, and 1.8% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race made up 6.6% of the population.[79]
As of 2011, 39.0% of Arkansas's population younger than age 1 were minorities.[80]
Arkansas Racial Breakdown of Population [hide]Racial composition 1990[81] 2000[82] 2010[83] White 82.7% 80.0% 77.0% African American 15.9% 15.7% 15.4% Asian 0.5% 0.8% 1.2% Native 0.5% 0.7% 0.8% Native Hawaiian and
other Pacific Islander– 0.1% 0.2% Other race 0.3% 1.5% 3.4% Two or more races – 1.3% 2.0%
A 2010 survey of the principal ancestries of Arkansas's residents revealed the following:[85]
- 15.5% African American
- 12.3% Irish
- 11.5% German
- 11.0% American
- 10.1% English
- 4.7% Mexican
- 2.1% French
- 1.7% Scottish
- 1.7% Dutch
- 1.6% Italian
- 1.4% Scots-Irish
According to the 2006–2008 American Community Survey, 93.8% of Arkansas's population (over the age of five) spoke only English at home. About 4.5% of the state's population spoke Spanish at home. About 0.7% of the state's population spoke any other Indo-European languages. About 0.8% of the state's population spoke an Asian language, and 0.2% spoke other languages.[clarification needed dubious]
Religion
Arkansas, like most other Southern states, is part of the Bible Belt and is predominantly Protestant. The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2010 were the Southern Baptist Convention with 661,382; the United Methodist Church with 158,574; non-denominational Evangelical Protestants with 129,638; and the Catholic Church with 122,662. There are some residents of the state who live by other religions such as Islam, Judaism, Wicca, Paganism, Hinduism, Buddhism or who claim no religious affiliation.[90]
Economy
As of November 2016 the state's unemployment rate is 4.0%[99]
Industry and commerce
Arkansas's earliest industries were fur trading and agriculture, with development of cotton plantations in the areas near the Mississippi River. They were dependent on slave labor through the American Civil War.
Today only approximately 3% of the population is employed in the agricultural sector,[100] it remains a major part of the state's economy, ranking 13th in the nation in the value of products sold.[101] The state is the U.S.'s largest producer of rice, broilers, and turkeys,[102] and ranks in the top three for cotton, pullets, and aquaculture (catfish).[101] Forestry remains strong in the Arkansas Timberlands, and the state ranks fourth nationally and first in the South in softwood lumber production.[103] Automobile parts manufacturers have opened factories in eastern Arkansas to support auto plants in other states. Bauxite was formerly a large part of the state's economy, mined mostly around Saline County.[104]
Tourism is also very important to the Arkansas economy; the official state nickname "The Natural State" was created for state tourism advertising in the 1970s, and is still used to this day. The state maintains 52 state parks and the National Park Service maintains seven properties in Arkansas. The completion of the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock has drawn many visitors to the city and revitalized the nearby River Market District. Many cities also hold festivals, which draw touristss to Arkansas culture, such as The Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival in Warren, King Biscuit Blues Festival, Ozark Folk Festival, Toad Suck Daze, and Tontitown Grape Festival.
Media
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Culture
Arkansas state symbols
Art and history museums display pieces of cultural value for Arkansans and tourists to enjoy. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville was visited by 604,000 people in 2012, its first year.[111] The museum includes walking trails and educational opportunities in addition to displaying over 450 works covering five centuries of American art.[112] Several historic town sites have been restored as Arkansas state parks, including Historic Washington State Park, Powhatan Historic State Park, and Davidsonville Historic State Park.
Arkansas features a variety of native music across the state, ranging from the blues heritage of West Memphis, Pine Bluff, Helena-West Helena to rockabilly, bluegrass, and folk music from the Ozarks. Festivals such as the King Biscuit Blues Festival and Bikes, Blues, and BBQ pay homage to the history of blues in the state. The Ozark Folk Festival in Mountain View is a celebration of Ozark culture and often features folk and bluegrass musicians. Literature set in Arkansas such as I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou and A Painted House by John Grisham describe the culture at various time periods.
Sports and recreation
Team sports and especially collegiate football have been important to Arkansans. College football in Arkansas began from humble beginnings. The University of Arkansas first fielded a team in 1894 when football was a very dangerous game. Recent studies of the damage to team members from the concussions common in football make it clear that the danger persists.
"Calling the Hogs" is a cheer that shows support for the Razorbacks, one of the two NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams in the state. High school football also began to grow in Arkansas in the early 20th century. Over the years, many Arkansans have looked to the Razorbacks football team as the public image of the state. Following the Little Rock Nine integration crisis at Little Rock Central High School, Arkansans looked to the successful Razorback teams in the following years to repair the state's reputation. Although the University of Arkansas is based in Fayetteville, the Razorbacks have always played at least one game per season at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock in an effort to keep fan support in central and south Arkansas.
Arkansas State University joined the University of Arkansas in FBS (then known as Division I-A) in 1992 after playing in lower divisions for nearly two decades. The two schools have never played each other, due to the University of Arkansas's policy of not playing intrastate games.[113] Two other campuses of the University of Arkansas System are Division I members. The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff is a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, a league whose members all play football in the second-level Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a member of the FBS Sun Belt Conference, but is one of two conference schools that has no football program. The state's other Division I member is the University of Central Arkansas, which is a full member (including football) of the FCS Southland Conference.
Seven of Arkansas's smaller colleges play in NCAA Division II, with six in the Great American Conference and one in the Heartland Conference. Two other small Arkansas colleges compete in NCAA Division III, in which athletic scholarships are prohibited.
Baseball runs deep in Arkansas and has been popular before the state hosted Major League Baseball (MLB) spring training in Hot Springs from 1886-1920s. Two minor league teams are based in the state. The Arkansas Travelers play at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock, and the Northwest Arkansas Naturals play in Arvest Ballpark in Springdale. Both teams compete in the Texas League.
Related to the state's frontier past, hunting continues in the state. The state created the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission in 1915 to regulate hunting and enforce those regulations.[114] Today a significant portion of Arkansas's population participates in hunting duck in the Mississippi flyway and deer across the state.[115] Millions of acres of public land are available for both bow and modern gun hunters.[115]
Fishing has always been popular in Arkansas, and the sport and the state have benefited from the creation of reservoirs across the state. Following the completion of Norfork Dam, the Norfork Tailwater and the White River have become a destination for trout fishers. Several smaller retirement communities such as Bull Shoals, Hot Springs Village, and Fairfield Bay have flourished due to their position on a fishing lake. The Buffalo National River has been preserved in its natural state by the National Park Service and is frequented by fly fishers annually.
Health
The Arkansas Clean Indoor Air Act went into effect in 2006, a statewide smoking ban excluding bars and some restaurants.[119]
Healthcare in Arkansas is provided by a network of hospitals as members of the Arkansas Hospital Association. Major institutions with multiple branches include Baptist Health, Community Health Systems, and HealthSouth. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock operates the UAMS Medical Center, a teaching hospital ranked as high performing nationally in cancer and nephrology.[120] The pediatric division of UAMS Medical Center is known as Arkansas Children's Hospital, nationally ranked in pediatric cardiology and heart surgery.[121] Together, these two institutions are the state's only Level I trauma centers.[122]
Education
Arkansas has 1,064 state-funded kindergartens, elementary, junior- and senior high schools.[123]
The state supports a network of public universities and colleges, including two major university systems: Arkansas State University System and University of Arkansas System. The University of Arkansas, flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System in Fayetteville was ranked #63 among public schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.[124] Other public institutions include University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Arkansas Tech University, Henderson State University, Southern Arkansas University, and University of Central Arkansas across the state. It is also home to 11 private colleges and universities including Hendrix College, one of the nation's top 100 liberal arts colleges, according to U.S. News & World Report.[125]
In the 1920s the state required all children to attend public schools. The school year was set at 131 days, although some areas were unable to meet that requirement.[126][127]
Although unusual in the West, school corporal punishment is not uncommon in Arkansas, with 20,083 public school students[128] paddled at least one time, according to government data for the 2011–2012 school year.[129] The rate of corporal punishment in public schools is higher only in Mississippi.[129]
Educational attainment
Arkansas is one of the most under-educated states in the Union. It ranks near the bottom in terms of percentage of the population with either a high school or college degree. The state's educational system has a history of under-funding, low teachers' salaries and political meddling in the curriculum.[130]
Educational statistics during these early days are fragmentary and unreliable. Many counties did not submit full reports to the Secretary of State who did double-duty as Commissioner of Common Schools. However, the percentage of Whites over twenty years of age who were illiterate was given as:
- 1840 21%
- 1850 25%
- 1860 17%
In 2010 Arkansas students earned an average score of 20.3 on the ACT exam, just below the national average of 21. These results were expected due to the large increase in the number of students taking the exam since the establishment of the Academic Challenge Scholarship.[132] Top high schools receiving recognition from the U.S. News & World Report are spread across the state, including Haas Hall Academy in Fayetteville, KIPP Delta Collegiate in Helena-West Helena, Bentonville, Rogers, Rogers Heritage, Valley Springs, Searcy, and McCrory.[133] A total of 81 Arkansas high schools were ranked by the U.S. News & World Report in 2012.[134]
Funding
As an organized territory, and later in the early days of statehood, education was funded by the sales of Federally-controlled public lands. This system was inadequate and prone to local graft. In an 1854 message to the Legislature, Governor Elias N. Conway said, "We have a common-school law intended as a system to establish common schools in all part of the state; but for the want of adequate means there are very few in operation under this law." At this time, only about a quarter of children were enrolled in school. [143] By the beginning of the American Civil War, the state had only twenty-five publicly-funded common schools.[144]
In 1867, the state legislature was still controlled by ex-Confederates. It passed a Common Schools Law that allowed public funded but limited schools to White children.
The 1868 legislature banned former Confederates and passed a more wide-ranging law detailing funding and administrative issues and allowing Black children to attend school. In furtherance of this, the postwar 1868 state constitution was the first to permit a personal-property tax to fund the lands and buildings for public schools. With the 1868 elections, the first county school commissioners took office.[145]
In 2014, the state spent $9,616 per student, compared with a national average of about $11,000 putting Arkansas in nineteenth place.[146]
Timeline
1829 Territorial legislature permits townships to establish schools. [143]
1868 State law required racial segregation of schools.
1871 University of Arkansas established.
1873 University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff established as a school to train Black teachers.
1877 Philander Smith College established as a school for Black students.
1890 Henderson State University established as a private school. The state assumed responsibility for it in 1929 as Henderson State Teachers College.
1885 Arkansas School for the Deaf and Arkansas School for the Blind established.
1909 Arkansas Tech University, Southern Arkansas University, University of Arkansas at Monticello and Arkansas State University established as schools offering high school diplomas and vocational training.
c. 1920 Schooling made compulsory.[130]
1925 University of Central Arkansas established as Arkansas State Normal School established.
1948 University of Arkansas School of Law admits a Black student
1957 Governor Orval Faubus used National Guard troops to oppose racial integration of Little Rock Central High School.
1958 In Cooper v. Aaron the United States Supreme Court ruled the state was bound to integrate school despite the opposition of the governor and legislature.
1983 The Arkansas State Supreme Court ruled the state's funding of education was Constitutionally deficient.[130]
Transportation
Arkansas is served by 2,750 miles (4,430 km) of railroad track divided among twenty-six railroad companies including three Class I railroads.[149] Freight railroads are concentrated in southeast Arkansas to serve the industries in the region. The Texas Eagle, an Amtrak passenger train, serves five stations in the state Walnut Ridge, Little Rock, Malvern, Arkadelphia, and Texarkana.
Arkansas also benefits from the use of its rivers for commerce. The Mississippi River and Arkansas River are both major rivers. The United States Army Corps of Engineers maintains the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, allowing barge traffic up the Arkansas River to the Port of Catoosa in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
There are four airports with commercial service: Clinton National Airport, Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, Fort Smith Regional Airport, and Texarkana Regional Airport, with dozens of smaller airports in the state.
Public transit and community transport services for the elderly or those with developmental disabilities are provided by agencies such as the Central Arkansas Transit Authority and the Ozark Regional Transit, organizations that are part of the Arkansas Transit Association.
Law and government
As with the federal government of the United States, political power in Arkansas is divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. Each officer's term is four years long. Office holders are term-limited to two full terms plus any partial terms before the first full term.[150]
Executive
The Governor of Arkansas is Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, who was inaugurated on January 13, 2015.[151][152] The six other elected executive positions in Arkansas are lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer, auditor, and land commissioner.[153] The governor also appoints qualified individuals to lead various state boards, committees, and departments. Arkansas governors served two-year terms until a referendum lengthened the term to four years, effective with the 1986 general election.
In Arkansas, the lieutenant governor is elected separately from the governor and thus can be from a different political party.[154]
Legislative
The Arkansas General Assembly is the state's bicameral bodies of legislators, composed of the Senate and House of Representatives. The Senate contains 35 members from districts of approximately equal population. These districts are redrawn decennially with each US census, and in election years ending in "2", the entire body is put up for reelection. Following the election, half of the seats are designated as two-year seats and are up for reelection again in two years, these "half-terms" do not count against a legislator's term limits. The remaining half serve a full four-year term. This staggers elections such that half the body is up for re-election every two years and allows for complete body turnover following redistricting.[155] Arkansas voters selected a 21–14 Republican majority in the Senate in 2012. Arkansas House members can serve a maximum of three two-year terms. House districts are redistricted by the Arkansas Board of Apportionment. Following the 2012 elections, Republicans gained a 51–49 majority in the House of Representatives.[156]
The Republican Party majority status in the Arkansas State House of Representatives following the 2012 elections is the party's first since 1874. Arkansas was the last state of the old Confederacy to never have Republicans control either chamber of its house since the Civil War.[157]
Following the term limits changes, studies have shown that lobbyists have become less influential in state politics. Legislative staff, not subject to term limits, have acquired additional power and influence due to the high rate of elected official turnover.[158]
Judicial
Arkansas's judicial branch has five court systems: Arkansas Supreme Court, Arkansas Court of Appeals, Circuit Courts, District Courts and City Courts.
Most cases begin in district court, which is subdivided into state district court and local district court. State district courts exercise district-wide jurisdiction over the districts created by the General Assembly, and local district courts are presided over by part-time judges who may privately practice law. 25 state district court judges preside over 15 districts, with more districts created in 2013 and 2017. There are 28 judicial circuits of Circuit Court, with each contains five subdivisions: criminal, civil, probate, domestic relations, and juvenile court. The jurisdiction of the Arkansas Court of Appeals is determined by the Arkansas Supreme Court, and there is no right of appeal from the Court of Appeals to the high court. The Arkansas Supreme Court can review Court of Appeals cases upon application by either a party to the litigation, upon request by the Court of Appeals, or if the Arkansas Supreme Court feels the case should have been initially assigned to it. The twelve judges of the Arkansas Court of Appeals are elected from judicial districts to renewable six-year terms.
The Arkansas Supreme Court is the court of last resort in the state, composed of seven justices elected to eight-year terms. Established by the Arkansas Constitution in 1836, the court's decisions can be appealed to only the Supreme Court of the United States.
Federal
Both of Arkansas's U.S. Senators, John Boozman and Tom Cotton, are Republicans. The state has four seats in U.S. House of Representatives. All four seats are held by Republicans: Rick Crawford (1st district), French Hill (2nd district), Steve Womack (3rd district), and Bruce Westerman (4th district).[159]
Politics
Presidential elections results Year Republican Democratic 2016 60.57% 684,872 33.65% 380,494 2012 60.57% 647,744 36.88% 394,409 2008 58.72% 638,017 38.86% 422,310 2004 54.31% 572,898 44.55% 469,953 2000 51.31% 472,940 45.86% 422,768 1996 36.80% 325,416 53.74% 475,171 1992 35.48% 337,324 53.21% 505,823 1988 56.37% 466,578 42.19% 349,237 1984 60.47% 534,774 38.29% 338,646 1980 48.13% 403,164 47.52% 398,041 1976 34.93% 268,753 64.94% 499,614 1972 68.82% 445,751 30.71% 198,899
Most Republican strength traditionally lied mainly in the northwestern part of the state, particularly Fort Smith and Bentonville, as well as North Central Arkansas around the Mountain Home area. In the latter area, Republicans have been known to get 90 percent or more of the vote, while the rest of the state was more Democratic. After 2010, Republican strength expanded further to the Northeast and Southwest and into the Little Rock suburbs. The Democrats are mostly concentrated to central Little Rock, the Mississippi Delta, the Pine Bluff area, and the areas around the southern border with Louisiana.
Arkansas has only elected three Republicans to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction, Tim Hutchinson, who was defeated after one term by Mark Pryor; John Boozman, who defeated incumbent Blanche Lincoln; and Tom Cotton, who defeated Mark Pryor in the 2014 elections. Before 2013, the General Assembly had not been controlled by the Republican Party since Reconstruction, with the GOP holding a 51-seat majority in the state House and a 21-seat (of 35) in the state Senate following victories in 2012. Arkansas was one of just three states among the states of the former Confederacy that sent two Democrats to the U.S. Senate (the others being Florida and Virginia) for any period during the first decade of the 21st century.
In 2010, Republicans captured three of the state's four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2012, Republicans won election for all four House seats. Arkansas held the distinction of having a U.S. House delegation composed entirely of military veterans (Rick Crawford – Army; Tim Griffin – Army Reserve; Steve Womack – Army National Guard, Tom Cotton- Army). In 2014, the last Democrat in Arkansas's Congressional Delegation, Mark Pryor, was defeated in campaign to win a third term in the U.S. Senate, leaving the entire congressional delegation in GOP hands for the first time since Reconstruction.
Reflecting the state's large evangelical population, the state has a strong social conservative bent. Under the Arkansas Constitution Arkansas is a right to work state, its voters passed a ban on same-sex marriage with 75% voting yes,[161] and the state is one of a handful with legislation on its books banning abortion in the event Roe v. Wade is ever overturned.
Attractions
- Arkansas Post National Memorial at Gillett
- Blanchard Springs Caverns
- Buffalo National River
- Fort Smith National Historic Site
- Hot Springs National Park
- Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
- Pea Ridge National Military Park
- President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site
- Arkansas State Capitol Building
- List of Arkansas state parks
See also
- Outline of Arkansas – organized list of topics about Arkansas
- Index of Arkansas-related articles
- List of people from Arkansas
- LGBT rights in Arkansas
- USS Arkansas
Notes
- Elevation adjusted to North American Vertical Datum of 1988.
- The Geographic Names Index System (GNIS) of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) indicates that the official name of this feature is Magazine Mountain, not "Mount Magazine". Although not a hard and fast rule, generally "Mount X" is used for a peak and "X Mountain" is more frequently used for ridges, which better describes this feature. Magazine Mountain appears in the GNIS as a ridge,[5] with Signal Hill identified as its summit.[6] "Mount Magazine" is the name used by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, which follows what the locals have used since the area was first settled.
Whereas, confusion of practice has arisen in the pronunciation of the name of our state and it is deemed important that the true pronunciation should be determined for use in oral official proceedings.Despite this, the state's name is still frequently mispronounced, especially by non-Americans; in fact, it is spelled in Cyrillic with the ar-KAN-zəs pronunciation. Citizens of the state of Kansas often pronounce the Arkansas River as /ɑːrˈkænzəs ˈrɪvər/, in a manner similar to the common pronunciation of the name of their state.
And, whereas, the matter has been thoroughly investigated by the State Historical Society and the Eclectic Society of Little Rock, which have agreed upon the correct pronunciation as derived from history, and the early usage of the American immigrants..
Be it therefore resolved by both houses of the General Assembly, that the only true pronunciation of the name of the state, in the opinion of this body, is that received by the French from the native Indians and committed to writing in the French word representing the sound. It should be pronounced in three (3) syllables, with the final "s" silent, the "a" in each syllable with the Italian sound, and the accent on the first and last syllables. The pronunciation with the accent on the second syllable with the sound of "a" in "man" and the sounding of the terminal "s" is discouraged by Arkansans.
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