Date of Award
9-13-2012
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Heritage Studies, Ph.D.
First Advisor
Carol O'Connor
Committee Members
Deborah Chappel-Traylor; Ruth Hawkins
Call Number
LD 251 .A566d 2012 G32
Abstract
Tyronza is a small community located in the Delta region of northeast Arkansas. It served as the birthplace of the nationally known and highly contested Southern Tenant Farmers Union that drew strong local attention because of its socialist party support and its use of interracial locals. The town served as the union headquarters for a very short time before they were moved to nearby Memphis. The union created an intense emotional response among the townspeople, and though instances of brutality were hinted at over the years, no one would ever confess to the crimes. In 2001, Arkansas State University launched a joint project with city officials to restore the building which had housed the offices of the union in those early days. Not everyone in the community was happy with the plans but once the museum opened to the public, tensions calmed somewhat when the local people realized that there had been no finger pointing in the creation of the exhibits. As the months went by, the townspeople warmed up to the staff and a series of projects ensued to assist the town in community revitalization. It was determined that not only had the story of the union been suppressed for years, but also any mention of the town's history prior to the formation of the union. This dissertation constitutes an attempt to present a fairly complete history of the town and the place which it physically occupies, in a format that is academically correct yet accessible to a wide, public audience.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Grisham, Cindy Lynn, "When Hope Grows Weary: An Arkansas Delta Town in Place and Time" (2012). Student Theses and Dissertations. 877.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/877
