Arkansas' Ozark Mountain Blacks: An Introduction

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T HE ARKANSAS OZARKS, a major sub-region of the State, composing more than twenty counties north of the Arkansas River and west of the alluvial plain of the Mississippi River, contain very few black people. Historical evidence shows that blacks were among the earliest of travelers into Arkansas Territory. Some were said to have been with DeSoto in the 1540's. Others were at the original Arkansas Post, in the late 1700's. Still others came later as slaves or freedmen in the early 1800's when Arkansas was granted territorial status.' There has been a diminution of blacks in the hill counties since about 1900. Extinct black communities numbering more than twenty can be noted across the hills. In 1960 the total black population of fifteen counties that are practically totally mountainous was 753. The largest pockets were distributed by county as follows: Benton (29), Izard (54), Van Buren (95), and Washington (566). Figures for the 1970 census noted increases in black numbers that were so large as to raise serious questions about their accuracy. Many trips have been made to the mountain counties to find these blacks but they cannot be found. The Census Bureau admits that there were probably machine errors which caused the erroneous counts for 1970. Table 1 shows that the United States Census records blacks in the following counties: