1959 Arkansas General Assembly

Starting in 1957, three successive Arkansas General Assemblies passed a series of pro-segregation measures. In 1959, Act 14 made it illegal for a person to refuse to leave a place of business. Act 81 created a bus seat numbering system for intra state journeys in an attempt to preserve segregation by seat assignment. Act 115 forbade any member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from holding a government position. Act 482 stated that blood donations should by labeled by race, and that any person receiving a transfusion should be told the donor’s race. The state fought to uphold these laws at great expense to taxpayers although the courts eventually ruled them all unconstitutional.