Postwar African American Politics in Little Rock- Jeffrey Hawkins

The centennial of former governor Winthrop Rockefeller’s birth in May is followed by the centennial of former governor Sid McMath’s birth in June. McMath led a so-called “G.I. Revolt” in Arkansas as returning servicemen from World War Two sought to reform the state’s politics. African American politics underwent a transformation too. One of the people in the vanguard of this movement was Jeffrey Hawkins from Ashley County who helped to form the East End Civic League to represent the interests of that run down, mainly African American populated east end of Little Rock. He became known as the unofficial mayor of the East End, a position he held for over five decades. Today, there is a Jeffery Hawkins Conference Room in the Pulaski County Regional Center and an East End street named in his honor. I’m John Kirk of the UALR History Department and this has been an Arkansas moment.