Violence and the Law in Jim Crow Arkansas

Legacies & Lunch April 2026

This conversation brings together historian John Kirk and attorney/author Scott Stern to examine how justice was dispensed in Jim Crow Arkansas, with state-sanctioned capital punishment taking the place of extralegal lynchings.

Focusing on notorious rape prosecutions in Mississippi County and across the Arkansas Delta during the 1930s, the speakers explore how Black men were rushed from near-lynching to death row, while white defendants accused of similar crimes received mercy and reprieves. Drawing on deeply researched archival work, they situate these trials within a broader landscape shaped by racial hierarchy, sexual violence, labor conflict, and economic exploitation. Together, these historians trace both the brutal mechanics of “legal lynching” and the resistance it provoked, offering a powerful rethinking of law, justice, and violence in the Jim Crow South. 

We are excited to offer a lunch including a sandwich, chips, a cookie, and a drink to in-person attendees in 2026, courtesy of the CALS Foundation. Meals are limited and will be offered on a first-come first-served basis. We cannot accommodate dietary restrictions or allergies, and registration does not guarantee lunch will be available. 

Scott W. Stern is a writer, scholar, and public interest lawyer. He is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, The New Republic, The Atlantic, and other publications. He is the author of The Trials of Nina McCall: Sex, Surveillance, and the Decades-Long Government Plan to Imprison “Promiscuous” Women, a New York Times editors’ choice selection and Boston Globe best book of the year, and There Is a Deep Brooding in Arkansas: The Rape Trials that Sustained Jim Crow, and the People Who Fought It, from Thurgood Marshall to Maya Angelou, which the New York Times called “powerful new history.” He lives in Oakland, California.

John A. Kirk is the George W. Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He worked at the University of Wales and the University of London in the United Kingdom before moving to the United States in the summer of 2010. Kirk served for five years as chair of the UA Little Rock History Department and for four years as director of the UA Little Rock Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity. He has published ten books, most of them focusing on the history of the civil rights movement in Arkansas and the United States. 

Legacies & Lunch is a hybrid program offering participants the opportunity to attend either in person or virtually via Zoom. To participate in person, join us at - NEW LOCATION - Darragh Center, 5th Floor, CALS Main Library (with elevator access). Parking is available in the surface lot or the CALS Parking Deck which you can access from Rock Street. Parking will be validated. To participate virtually, register for the webinar using the button above. 

All abilities are welcome. To request ASL interpretation or other accommodations, call 501.918.3000 or email askcals@cals.org 2-3 weekdays before a program.

This program will be live-streamed to YouTube and the recording will be available immediately following the event. 

Legacies & Lunch is a free monthly program of CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies about Arkansas-related topics.

Past Legacies & Lunch Events