"Clybourne Park"

In terms of geographical separation, Little Rock’s neighborhoods are more segregated today than they were seventy years ago. In the 1950s and 1960s, through slum clearance and urban renewal projects, the city tore up black areas of residence and relocated its residents to the east and south of the city, as predominantly white suburbs sprawled to the north and west. Even as Little Rock slowly shed its commitment to southern-style Jim Crow racial discrimination through desegregating downtown facilities, a new model of racial separation similar to segregated neighborhoods in northern cities emerged. You can find out more about issues of race and residence in a new award-winning play by Bruce Norris called Clybourne Park at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. The show is directed by The Rep founder Cliff Fannin Baker and runs until February 9. I’m John Kirk, of the UALR History Department, and this has been an Arkansas Moment.