NOIRE

Our News. Our Culture. Our Time.

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

Happy Thanksgiving from NOIRE. We’re grateful for our readers and the storytellers, artists, creators, and every Arkansas voice helping shape the culture. Thank you for letting us share your stories and celebrate your brilliance.

#OurNewsOurCultureOurTime

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

Former President Barack Obama will launch Crystal Bridges’ new Building Bridges series on Monday, Dec. 1. President Obama will also meet with 450 Arkansas students and teachers for a private roundtable. Photo credit: Pari Dukovic
#OurNewsOurCultureOurTime

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

Philander Smith University just made history. The Little Rock HBCU received a transformational $19M gift from MacKenzie Scott, one of the largest in its 147 year legacy.

A powerful day for PSU and for Arkansas.

#OurNewsOurCultureOurTime
#PhilanderSmithUniversity

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 See Issue 003 of NOIRE!

On the cover: Paris Wilburd, a rising rodeo star & her family’s journey turning a mom’s childhood dream into a shared legacy of grit, heart & tradition. 🐎

https://t.co/O3hfVUzMPG

#OurNewsOurCultureOurTime

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

"I just trusted and followed my instincts and intuition with where it was taking me, and it just kind of all worked out, I think." -Fatima Robinson.

Fatima's decades-long career definitely worked out. Read her story: https://t.co/O3hfVUAkFe

#OurNewsOurCultureOurTime

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

C E L E B R A T E. #Juneteenth #FreedomDay

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

Our team had a wonderful time celebrating the reopening of the @CALibrarySystem’s Sue Cowan Williams Library last night!
The Family Dinner fundraiser included amazing food and entertainment. The space is beautifully designed. Congrats! #OurNewsOurCultureOurTime

[Equal Justice Initiative @eji_org]

On this day in 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed while standing on a hotel balcony in Memphis. Dr. King was there supporting an economic protest by Black sanitation workers. https://t.co/zaMrwHK20R

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

Beginning April 18, the @CALibrarySystem will host a series of events to celebrate the grand reopening of the Sue Cowan Williams Library. Save the date!
#PayEquity #HistoryMaker #CALSPartner
-Info from @AAUW
-photos of Sue Cowan Williams courtesy of #EncyclopediaofArkansas

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

In 1942, Sue Cowan Williams challenged the notion that Black teachers in the Little Rock School district should be paid less than their white counterparts. She won her lawsuit and serves as an inspiration to continue the fight for pay equity in all industries.

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

In 1942, Sue Cowan Williams challenged the notion that Black teachers in the Little Rock School district should be paid less than their white counterparts. She won her lawsuit and serves as an inspiration to continue the fight for pay equity in all industries.

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

Black women working full-time, year-round are paid 69 cents to the dollar earned by white men.

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

Black women working full-time, year-round are paid 69 cents to the dollar earned by white men.

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

DYK? Black women experience a substantially wider pay gap due to the compounded effect of racism and sexism. 7.9.24 is Black Women’s Equal Pay Day— the day they must work until to earn the same pay as a non-Hispanic white man earned the previous year.

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

DYK? Black women experience a substantially wider pay gap due to the compounded effect of racism and sexism. 7.9.24 is Black Women’s Equal Pay Day— the day they must work until to earn the same pay as a non-Hispanic white man earned the previous year.

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

DYK? Sue Cowan Williams lost her job teaching at Dunbar High School because she sued to get equal pay for Black teachers in the Little Rock School District. Ultimately, she won the case on appeal, & nearly a decade later, she was reinstated & taught at Dunbar until 1974. #WHM

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

As #WHM nears the end, NOIRE is excited to spotlight the Little Rock teacher who put herself on the line to gain pay equity for Black teachers. In partnership with @CALibrarySystem, we’re sharing stories about Sue Cowan Williams, her legacy, & the library in her honor.

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

[DAY 29] Albert George Hibbler, a baritone vocalist from Arkansas, sang with Duke Ellington's orchestra before having solo pop hits including “Unchained Melody,” “He,” “After the Lights Go Down Low,” “11th Hour Melody,” and “Never Turn Back.”
#OurNewsOurCultureOurTime

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

[DAY 28] Benjamin “Pap” Singleton— who escaped slavery in Tennessee— dedicated his life to Black liberation. He organized the migration of thousands of Black colonists, known as Exodusters, to found settlements in Kansas after Reconstruction.

#OurNewsOurCultureOurTime

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

[DAY 27] John Hanks Alexander, of Helena, was the first African-American officer in the United States armed forces to hold a regular command position and the second African-American graduate of the United States Military Academy.

#OurNewsOurCultureOurTime

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

[DAY 26] Janet Collins inspired a generation when she became a principal dancer at the Metropolitan Opera House. She broke color barriers when she danced in Aida in ‘51 & again in the Met’s corps de ballet, making her its first Black prima ballerina.

#OurNewsOurCultureOurTime

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

[DAY 25] Fannie Lou Hamer, born a sharecropper, rose to become a powerful voice in the civil rights movement. She helped organized Mississippi's Freedom Summer & co-founded the National Women's Political Caucus to support women seeking office.
#OurNewsOurCultureOurTime

[NOIRE @ArkansasNOIRE]

[DAY 24] Lucy Stanton Day Sessions was an abolitionist & the first African-American woman to complete a four-year course of study at a college or university. Stanton’s graduation speech, "A Plea for the Oppressed," expressed her abolitionist sentiments. #OurNewsOurCultureOurTime