Plowing Prairies and Raising Stock: Historical Ecology and Community Life on the Cotton Frontier of Southwest Arkansas

Abstract

The first half of the 19th century was a time of great change across the American landscape. In Arkansas, social, economic, and environmental transformations occurred as free and enslaved settlers established new ways of life along the southwestern edge of the United States during the decades following the Louisiana Purchase. By introducing an approach that draws from historical ecology and practice theory, this article applies interdisciplinary methods to explore the antebellum community of Ozan Township, which grew around the town of Washington, Arkansas. Diverse sources shed light on dynamic relationships between people and their environment that have existed within this compelling portion of the South’s cotton frontier.