Color Barrier in Arkansas - No Blacks Ever Elected to Congress or State Wide
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at 07:49PM From Associated Press Arkansas remains the only state from the former Confederacy never to elect an African-American to Congress or any statewide office — and last week it soundly rejected the man set to become the nation's first black president. Barack Obama lost by 20 percentage points, even though fellow Democrats control all of Arkansas' statewide offices, both chambers of the Legislature and three of its four congressional districts.
Many blacks say race is the reason, and consider the poor showing to be another frustrating chapter in Arkansas' long and tortured civil-rights history. "To vote for an African-American at a statewide level would show we're willing to move forward. We have an obligation to continue to belie that piece of history that is indelibly in people's brains," said Joyce Elliott, a Democrat unopposed last week in a state Senate race in Little Rock.
