The Pioneers

<p>The Pioneers: Early African-American Leaders in Pine Bluff Arkansas pays tribute to generations of African-American leaders who helped shape the town Jefferson County and the state in productive dynamic ways. </p><p>Incorporated in 1839 a vast multitude of African-Americans from Mississippi Alabama Tennessee South Carolina and North Carolina arrived in the 1840s. While they are almost never talked about their contributions are woven into the fabric of Pine Bluff's history and present.</p><p>Despite separate and unequal rulings they became farmers educators politicians artists journalists and more - and in this meticulously researched account the author tells the stories of forty-five African-American achievers who deserve to be remembered.</p><p>Drawing on archival images photos interviews from former slaves interviewed by the Work Projects Administration during the 1930s and accounts from descendants the book highlights African-American achievers who survived and thrived during the most challenging of circumstances including the Civil War Reconstruction and the Jim Crow South.</p><p>Discover the critical role that African-Americans played in Pine Bluff Arkansas as well as how they fit into the larger American narrative.</p>