Ethel Tompkins of the 'Hoxie 21' to Be Guest of Arkansas Folklife Web Series Feb. 21

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Ethel Tompkins

Arkansas Folk and Traditional Arts invites the campus community and beyond to attend this semester's first installment of the Arkansas Folklife Web Series with Ethel Tompkins from 1-2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 21. This event is free and open to the public, and registration is required.

Tompkins was the first African American to graduate from Hoxie High School in Northeast Arkansas and was one of the Hoxie 21 — the first students to integrate at Hoxie in 1955. Tompkins will share the story of integration in Hoxie as well as her work with Hoxie The First Stand Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to telling the story of integration in Hoxie, where Tompkins serves as president of the Board of Directors.

Host Lauren Willette is excited to have Tompkins on to discuss this important piece of Arkansas history.

Willette says, "I am happy to kick off the 2024 season of the Arkansas Folklife Web Series with Ms. Tompkins, who will share the story of the first integration in Arkansas: how it started off well, then quickly deteriorated when LIFE Magazine published a piece on their success."

In 2024, the web series will host a variety of guests, including chef Margie Raimondo of Urbana Farmstead, potter Stephen Driver of Little Mulberry Gallery, Meredith Martin-Moats of Sulphur Springs Truck Patch and more.

Questions about the 2024 Arkansas Folklife Web Series may be directed to Willette at willette@uark.edu.  Arkansas Folk and Traditional Arts is a statewide program of the University of Arkansas Libraries dedicated to building cross-cultural understanding by documenting, presenting and sustaining Arkansas' living traditional arts and cultural heritage.