This morning we decided to head back into the historic district of Fort Smith. We had noticed the day before that the local visitor centre was in an historic building that was once a local bordello (we had to explain to Jack and Emily what one of these are …. at least in simple terms). Apparently being a border town quite a number of these existed until 1924 when prostitution became illegal. Anyway this bordello was called Miss Laura’s, which immediately meant Karen had to go there at least for a photograph. We were welcomed by a delightful local lady, who immediately introduced us to one of her co-workers who had some years come across from England. In fact she was a Norwich girl and we told her we had lived there and that Emily had actually been born in that fine city – it was great fun sharing the names of towns and villages we had in common. Before taking the tour of Miss Laura’s bordello we took a trolley bus tour of the historic district of Fort Smith. Some of the houses from the late nineteenth century were splendid and indeed one was up for sale at $194,000 …. most tempting!!! Arriving back at Miss Laura’s we were given a brief tour. The prohibition of prostitution was the death knell for this house as a house of ill repute and it was acquired by a local man who made it in to a restaurant. This didn’t turn out well and eventually the house fell into disrepair before it was bought by the town and restored. Unfortunately the house was hit by a tornado in the late 1980s and was pretty much wrecked but luckily they decided to restore it once more to its current glory. Whilst used as a visitor centre it is decorated in period style.Karen now satisfied we head off to Little Rock. On the way we decide to try some more of the “Roadfood” recommended restaurants. To start with we pulled off at Russellville, Arkansas to tryout Feltner’s Whatta-Burger. As the name suggests this is a burger bar and as you queue for your food a lady comes and takes your order writing it on a paper bag. You then pay and collect your food. The burgers and fries are delicious and the milkshakes (we had butterscotch flavour) were outstanding. Not completely satisfied we go a few more miles and take a short detour to the Wagon Wheel in the town of Greenbrier. It is one of those cafes you would not normally look twice at but the meringue cakes – we tried the chocolate and the coconut cakes -were to die for.
Completely tubbed out we continued our route down to Little Rock, arriving mid-afternoon. We planned to do one visit before the day was out and decided upon the National Historic site at Central High School in Little Rock. As we are in the South this part our tour is destined to have a bit of a civil rights theme. The Central High School is still operational but there is National Parks visitor centre there dedicated to the events of 1957 – 58. Despite the Constitutional Amendments giving Blacks equal rights the reality in many Southern States was quite different well into the 1960s. Many school systems in these States were still segregated and in 1957 the Civil Rights movement chose to challenge this and their selected target was Little Rock. A group of teenagers were chosen to be registered at the Central High School – eventually this group would number nine (to go down in history as the “Little Rock Nine”.) The Governor of Arkansas, Orvil Faubus, called upon the whites of Arkansas to come to the school and protest, which they did and things turned ugly with fighting in the streets. Faubus called in the National Guard to keep peace which effectively meant keeping the nine Black students from entering the school. At this point the National Government intervened and President Eisenhower ordered in the paratroops who escorted the Black students through the protestors into the school – again violence erupted but the students made it into the school. Eventually the Board of Governors closed the High Schools in Little Rock, and they stayed closed for a year but eventually re-opened and the Black students continued to attend and graduate. This was a seminal event in the history of the Civil Rights Movement and was a catalyst for other changes in Black / White segregation. We spent an hour or so going through the exhibits at the visitor centre, with Jack and Emily doing the Junior Ranger programme for yet more badges, before we headed off to our hotel for the night.This was a very moving day..injustice always is hard to stomach!
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