Little Rock and North Little Rock Weekend has arrived! We owe many thanks to our cable partners at Comcast! Vice President of Government Affairs Mike Wilson, Public Affairs Coordinator Evangeline Parker and the entire Comcast team worked hard to help us set up the week's many logistics.
During our week, Comcast hosted the Comcast/C-SPAN Central Arkansas Tour Kickoff event at the Central Arkansas Library Systems Darragh Center Auditorium. The event featured author Carla Killough McClaffery who talked about her book The Many Faces of George Washington: Remaking a Presidential Icon. Her remarks will air on C-SPAN2 BookTV-see air times listed below. Little Rock Vice Mayor Dean Kumpuris and North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Hays provided opening remarks and Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola caught up with the C-SPAN crew later in the week.
In addition, we worked with local education and community leaders. We were given the opportunity to present to students and teachers at Arkansas Baptist College, North Little Rock High School and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. In addition, the community leaders in the North Little Rock Rotary Club carved out time in their busy schedule to allow us to visit. Thank you to all who participated.
Finally, thank you to the local historians, authors and others who took the time to participate in our programming segments -- their insight, knowledge and enthusiasm for the cities rich history and literary life is evident in each video piece. The week in Little Rock and North Little Rock was a huge success because of their special efforts!
Highlighted below is the programming you will see this weekend March 31st and April 1st on C-SPAN2 BookTV and C-SPAN3 American History TV (AHTV). There are special block times and the segments will air separately throughout the weekend as well. If you miss the on-air segments, they are available online. Simply visit the LCV website and C-SPAN’s Video Library where the programs will be archived indefinitely.
Special block times: BOOK TV LITTLE ROCK BLOCK: SATURDAY, March 31 at 12pm ET
AHTV LITTLE ROCK BLOCK: SUNDAY April 1 at 5pm ET
On BOOK TV
Learn About
“The Many Faces of George Washington”
Author Carla McClafferty talks at a Comcast/C-SPAN welcoming event in Little Rock about her book - which follows the process Mt. Vernon used to create life models of George Washington as a young man, commander of American forces in the revolution, and as our nation’s first President. Airs Saturday 12pm ET, Saturday 9:15pm ET, and Sunday 11:15pm ET.
“Blood in Their Eyes: The Elaine Race Massacres of 1919”
Author Grif Stockley introduces us to a little known, but devastating story in Jim Crow era Arkansas. The author looks at the evidence from this event as letters, interviews, newspaper and trial transcripts help reveal the tale of the slaughter of at least 20 African-American sharecroppers who had dared to meet and then protest unfair settlements for their cotton crops from white plantation owners.
“The Thousand-Year Flood: The Ohio-Mississippi Disaster of 1937”
75 years after it took place, author David Welky looks at one of the worst natural disasters in American history – as the flooding of the Ohio River caused over 400 deaths, ran over a million people away from their homes, and caused more than a half-billion dollars worth of damage at a time when the Great Depression still battered the nation.
Tour
The J.N. Heiskell Collection at the University of Little Rock Arkansas.
J.N. Heiskell was the owner, and editor of the Arkansas Gazette almost 70 years, and he was a collector of all things Arkansas – from maps, to books, to photos and other objects – all of which created a picture of the state’s culture and history.
Hear
About the Civil War in Arkansas
Author Mark Christ talks about his book “Civil War Arkansas 1863: The Battle for a State.”
About Election Fraud in Arkansas
Ernie Dumas on his book “Waiting for the Cemetery Vote: The Fight to Stop Election Fraud in Arkansas” which chronicles endemic problems from the nineteenth century up until the 1970s when citizens banded together to fight a system that corrupt officials has perpetuated for years.
Steve Teske talking about his book “Unvarnished Arkansas: The Naked Truth About Nine Famous Arkansans”
The author tells the uncommon, colorful, and unknown stories of nine Arkansans, who while not famous, help tell the story of the state.
On AHTV
Visit
General Douglas MacArthur’s Birthplace
We take you to the place where General Douglas MacArthur was born to learn about his family’s background, his birth in this building in Arkansas, an exhibit here on his firing by President Truman, and an address to the people of Little Rock on a return trip to his birthplace later in his career.
The Clinton Library Three Dimensional Gift Archives– to see some of the gifts both world leaders and regular Americans gave to President and Mrs. Clinton. These items are not on exhibit at the library.
See
Arkansas Civil War Battle Flags as we get a behind the scenes preview of a new exhibit coming to the Old State House which examines the stories of these rare flags and the people who carried them into battle.
Learn About
Integration at North Little Rock High School
While much of the story has focused on the Little Rock 9 and Central High, on the other side of the Arkansas River, Civil Rights leaders and African-American students were trying to integrate another white high school in this area. We take you to North Little Rock High to hear from historian Cary Bradburn and Richard Lindsey – one of the students who tried to attend the school – about this lesser known – but important battle in the Civil Rights movement.
Urban Slavery in the Antebellum South
We will explore the Historic Arkansas Museum to see a neighborhood from the time period leading up to the Civil War. While there, we learn about urban slavery in the south and how it differed from slavery practices on plantations.
Tour
The Butler Center collection of items from the Rohwer Japanese Internment Camp
Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, 10 Japanese-American internment camps were set up in the United States. The two easternmost of these were located in the Arkansas towns of Rohwer and Jerome. Our trip to the Butler Center takes the viewer into their collection of items that help paint the portrait of life inside one of these camps.
Hear
About Northern and Southern units fighting together in the Spanish-American War
We visit the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History’s exhibit on this war to learn about the conflict and the interaction of U.S. military units from Northern and Southern states – as they fight together in the first U.S. conflict since the Civil War.
Thank you Little Rock and North Little Rock!
