Segregationist organizations and the promotion of violence during the Hoxie and Little Rock crises of 1955 and 1957

During the mid to late 1950s, Hoxie and Little Rock were Arkansas communities that experienced social unrest and violence when their public schools began to desegregate. White Citizens' Council of Arkansas and White America Incorporated were segregationist groups they attempted to prevent integration at Hoxie but failed because their leaders publicly asked local citizens to resort to violence to stop desegregation of local classrooms. The Capital Citizens' Council and the Mothers' League were anti-integrationist organizations in Little Rock that adapted from the mistakes committed at Hoxie. For a time they promoted violence at Little Rock while avoiding repercussions from local, state and federal authorities. This work tracks the movements and actions of these segregationists in Hoxie and Little Rock and strongly suggest that the groups created an atmosphere of fear and violence in order to preserve a system of segregation in Arkansas.