Remembering Blackville, Arkansas

Join us on Wednesday, June 17, at 6 p.m., for "Remembering Blackville, Arkansas," a program held in celebration of Juneteenth. Authors Carolyn Cooley and Wally G. Vaughn will discuss their book, "Blackville, Arkansas - Fashioned by a Former Slave: Stories from Individuals Who Remember Blackville."

Blackville, Arkansas, an all-Black self-sufficient thriving community, was named after its founder, Pickens Black Sr., a former slave. When he was a young man, he migrated to Jackson County in Northeast Arkansas. While working in Jackson County, Black saved his earnings, purchased acres of land, cut the timber, and sold it so he could purchase more acres. By the 1940s, he owned 8,000 acres of land, comparable to twelve square miles.

His land started about fourteen miles south of Newport, Arkansas, the county seat, and ran twenty miles south to Shortland.

The program will be available on our YouTube channel the following day.

BOOK: Cooley and Vaughan will sign copies of their book following the program. The book will be in stock soon at the Clinton Museum Store.

ASL interpretation is available during our events.

This program is presented by the Clinton Foundation.

More about the speakers

Wally G. Vaughn was commissioned a First Lieutenant in the United States Air Force in January 1982 to serve as a Chaplain. He retired from active duty on January 31, 2011, in the grade of Colonel. His publications include the groundbreaking works “The Invisible Leader In Montgomery,” “The Montgomery Bus Protests,” “Strategic Planning of the Highest Order,” “The Selma Campaign,” “The Decisive Battle of the Civil Rights Movement,” and “Juneteenth Researchers Incorrect About Slaves In Texas.”

Carolyn Ann Butler Cooley is a native of Truxno, Union Parish, Louisiana. After graduating from Farmerville High School in 1974, she studied at Louisiana Tech University for two years. Carolyn relocated to Little Rock, Arkansas; studied at Shorter College and Arkansas Baptist College; and completed her education at Philander Smith College in 1983. She is the widow of Dr. James F. Cooley, whose work initiated The Movement in Forrest City, Arkansas, in the 1960s. She has two children: Stephen and Stetson and one grandson, Sa’Vion.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Clinton Presidential Center