Watch Your Own Heart Attack is a two-minute public information film advertisement produced by the British Heart Foundation, starring Steven Berkoff, which illustrates how it feels to have a heart attack.  It was first shown on ITV1 on 10 August 2008.

The "Hollywood" heart attack

The stereotypical heart attack, represented in films (such as Ocean's Thirteen, where Elliott Gould was shown falling over and clutching his chest, and Something's Gotta Give which showed Jack Nicholson's character being rescued from his attack by Diane Keaton) and in television is not always true to life, yet a YouGov poll discovered that 38 per cent of people believe the signs of a heart attack will always be crippling chest pains.

The British Heart Foundation was concerned that many people underestimated the effect of a heart attack due to the way they are represented on television programmes and in films, so produced the film in an attempt to educate viewers about the devastating realities of an attack.

The film features actor Steven Berkoff who punches and gags a largely unseen person and aims to graphically illustrate what it is like to have a heart attack, simulating the symptoms by using methods including a punch to the chest, taping the mouth of the sufferer to simulate breathing difficulties, and hugging them to show tightness in the chest, and ends with the victim vomiting while Berkoff warns that not all heart attack symptoms are as obvious as people think. They could be mistaken for a sports injury, indigestion, "last night's curry" or similar.

Production
This public information film advertisement, the first work for the charity by advertising agency Grey London since it won the account of British Heart Foundation in May 2008, was conceived by creative director Jon Williams, art director Damon Troth and copywriter Joanna Perry at Grey and directed by Brett Foraker through RSA Films. It is filmed from the subjective perspective of the heart attack victim.  Jon Williams, chief creative officer at Grey London, has commented that when researching ideas for the spot, someone observed, "what you really need to do is give everyone in Britain a heart attack," which is what the film aims to achieve through its use of subjective point of view.

A British Heart Foundation spokesman said the film aims to alert people to call 999 as soon as they experience heart attack symptoms and not to dismiss them as being caused by a minor problems.

Advertising campaign
A billboard advertising campaign was launched across the UK in the weeks running up to the showing, while personalities such as Angela Rippon, David Cameron, Ainsley Harriott and Jeremy Kyle gave their backing to the film.

The viewing figures for the film were 6.5 million, which is higher than the 6.1 million that the episode of Midsomer Murders, during which the film ran, received.

References

External links
British Heart Foundation – Official site (with Video clip and caption: "Watch this film and together we could save the life you love: The most important two minutes you'll ever see.")

British short films
Public information films
2008 films
2008 short films
2000s educational films
British educational films

Watch Your Own Heart Attack


Jacob "Jaap" Boersma (2 December 1929 – 6 March 2012) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and economist.

Boersma attended a Gymnasium in Leeuwarden from May 1942 until June 1947 and applied at the Rotterdam School of Economics in June 1947 majoring in Economics before transferring to the Free University Amsterdam in July 1948 obtaining a Bachelor of Economics degree in June 1949 before graduating with a Master of Economics degree in July 1953. Boersma worked a financial adviser for the National Christian Trade unions (CNV) from July 1953 until September 1964.

Boersma became a Member of the House of Representatives after the resignation of Jan van Eibergen, taking office on 15 September 1964 serving as a frontbencher chairing the special parliamentary committee for Law amendments and spokesperson for Economic Affairs, Health, Social Affairs and Environmental policy. Boersma was selected as a Member of the European Parliament and dual served in those positions, taking office on 8 May 1967. After the election of 1971 Boersma was appointed as Minister of Social Affairs in the Cabinet Biesheuvel I, taking office on 6 July 1971. The Cabinet Biesheuvel I fell just one year later on 19 July 1972 and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity until the first cabinet formation of 1972 when it was replaced by the caretaker Cabinet Biesheuvel II with Boersma continuing as Minister of Social Affairs, taking office on 9 August 1972. Boersma served as acting Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries from 1 January 1973 until 11 May 1973 following the appointment of Pierre Lardinois as European Commissioner. After the election of 1972 Boersma returned as a Member of the House of Representatives, taking office on 7 December 1972 but he was still serving in the cabinet and because of dualism customs in the constitutional convention of Dutch politics he couldn't serve a dual mandate he subsequently resigned as a Member of the House of Representatives on 7 March 1973. Following the second cabinet formation of 1972 Boersma continued as Minister of Social Affairs in the Cabinet Den Uyl, taking office on 11 May 1973. The Cabinet Den Uyl fell on 22 March 1977 after four years of tensions in the coalition and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity. After the election of 1977 Boersma again returned as a Member of the House of Representatives, taking office on 8 June 1977 but because of the dualism customs he resigned as Member of the House of Representatives on 8 September 1977. Following the cabinet formation of 1977 Boersma was not giving a cabinet post in the new cabinet, the Cabinet Den Uyl was replaced by the Cabinet Van Agt-Wiegel on 19 December 1977 and he subsequently returned as a Member of the House of Representatives following the appointment of Jan de Koning as Minister for Development Cooperation in the new cabinet, taking office on 16 January 1978 serving as a backbencher until his resignation 1 November 1978.

Boerma retired from national politics and became active in the private sector and public sector and occupied numerous seats as a corporate director and nonprofit director on several boards of directors and supervisory boards (Overseas Gas and Electric Company (OGEM), International Institute of Social History, Transnational Institute and the municipality of Amsterdam) and served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government (Advisory Council for Spatial Planning and Public Pension Funds APB).

Boerma was known for his abilities as a debater and policy wonk. Boerma continued to comment on political affairs until his is death at the age of 82 and holds the distinction as the third longest-serving Minister of Social Affairs with .

Decorations

References

External links

Official
  Drs. J. (Jaap) Boersma Parlement & Politiek

1929 births
2012 deaths
Anti-Revolutionary Party MEPs
Christian Democratic Appeal politicians
Commanders of the Order of Orange-Nassau
Dutch autobiographers
Dutch corporate directors
Dutch financial advisors
Dutch memoirists
Dutch nonprofit directors
Dutch political writers
Dutch trade union leaders
Independent politicians in the Netherlands
Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands)
MEPs for the Netherlands 1958–1979
Ministers of Agriculture of the Netherlands
Ministers of Social Affairs of the Netherlands
Politicians from Amsterdam
Politicians from Leeuwarden
Protestant Church Christians from the Netherlands
Reformed Churches Christians from the Netherlands
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni
20th-century Dutch businesspeople
20th-century Dutch civil servants
20th-century Dutch economists
20th-century Dutch male writers
20th-century Dutch politicians
21st-century Dutch economists
21st-century Dutch male writers

Jaap Boersma


Horsley Homestead is a heritage-listed residence at Horsley Drive, Dapto, City of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1842 to 1909. The homestead has also previously served as a museum (1972-1985) and as a function venue (1985-1992). It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 4 August 2000.

History

William Frances Weston, his wife Elizabeth, and son John were among the first free settlers in the Illawarra, when they took up 500 acres at Dapto in 1818. The land was given to them by Governor Macquarie as a "promise grant", one yet to be ratified by King George III. W. F. Weston named the property "West Horsley Place" after his home in Surrey. He died at the property in 1826, leaving his wife and five children. The 1828 census records Elizabeth Weston and children still residing there, with 500 acres, 40 acres cleared, 25 acres cultivated, and 35 horned cattle.

In 1830, Elizabeth Weston married a convict, Thomas Williamson. The 1841 census records the Williamsons living at Horsley, with Elizabeth Weston as landlady to 21 tenants. The farm had become a small village with 84 people in 21 slab houses, some were free, others were convicts. On 13 January 1842, Governor Gipps ratified the promised grant of 1818. It was bequeathed to William and Elizabeth Weston's daughters, Elizabeth and Augusta.

The first section of the house, with four rooms and a central hall, was built prior to 1842. In 1843, Elizabeth Weston Jr. married Andrew Thompson, and it became their home. In 1866, John Lindsay bought West Horsley Place from Augusta Brooks (née Weston), and renamed the property Horsley. John's son, George Lindsay operated as a dairy farm with a high quality Ayrshire herd. George was a successful exhibitor at the local and Sydney Agricultural Shows. George also purchased a butchery business with three shops, and a piggery for his son John Hessel Lindsay who became a partner in the Illawarra Meat Company.

In 1947, George Lindsay died aged 91, and his son, Arthur Lindsay inherited the property. In October 1968, Ron and Judy Holloway bought 27 acres with Horsley homestead from Arthur Lindsay.

The land was sold to developers in 1972, and Horsley, with 2.59 hectares (5.7 acres) was bought by Mr and Mrs C. Neaves for restoration and exhibition. Marlene Neaves set up a museum at Horsley and conducted tours there until at least 1985. A building called the "Old Albion Park Store" was relocated onto Horsley's site as part of this museum

In 1985-86, Peter and Prue Fyfe purchased and lived at Horsley, and operated a venue for occasions such as wedding receptions. Prue also had a wholesale/retail business in Thai imports. On 28 November 1992, Dr and Mrs Robert Pescud bought Horsley with 2.071 hectares (4.5 acres) as a private home. Since 2001 the property has been in the ownership of Rod and Mary Young.

Description
The property consists of a complex of buildings on a northern slope, with the farm buildings along the ridge line. The house faces north over Robins Creek with Mount Kembla in the distance.

The property was originally accessed from West Dapto Road to the north, over Robins Creek. Early natural round gate posts identify the entry point to the front yard. A line of fig trees identifies the earliest approach to the property while a later alignment was angled slightly to the west and is likely to date to the use of the creamery as a cheese factory. The house and garden are surrounded by a Tecoma hedge. Other typical 19th century plantings in the garden include a Bunya Bunya Pine and a row of five Morton Bay Fig Trees (now in separate ownership).

The access road was changed to a drive from Bong Bong road to the south. Bong Bong road was proposed in 1861 and an aerial photograph taken in 1948 shows an overgrown, disused track from the north with an older track branched off along the row of fig trees and a clear track in use from Bong Bong Road, entering the homestead along the alignment that is still in use today, adjacent to the west of the stable.

The house is a Georgian style building built from limewashed brick in two main stages; Initially c.1842, there was a central hall with two rooms either side. This was extended by the addition of rooms along the east and west. The back and front verandahs were used to access the later rooms. The interior has cedar joinery throughout. Behind the house there is a detached, random rubble kitchen with opposing doors in the southern and northern walls. The interior has a maids room, stone floor and a large open fireplace. It is possible that the kitchen predates the house as the first cottage. There is also a detached dairy (creamery) adjacent to the west of the house constructed from bricks similar to those used in the house. The dairy was converted to a cheese and butter factory in c.1880 using beaded timber partitions. The house, kitchen and dairy have slate roofs.

The farm buildings form a row. The easternmost building is the random rubble stable which retains timber stalls and stone floor. The original slate roof has been replaced with corrugated iron. The loft was used as a corn store. Across the driveway is a timber framed, corrugated iron milking shed with the bails removed and a chaff cutting area. This is adjacent to an early (1909) reinforced concrete silo which has a replacement hexagonal timber roof. The westernmost building is a large cow shed built using natural round posts and rails to form two rows of stalls with a central aisle. This is the only local example of a cow shed where the cows were tethered using traditional fixtures.

The original 500 acre property has been subdivided multiple times. However the remaining 2.071 hectares contains the original farm buildings and significant landscape elements. The buildings have been well maintained.

The buildings and their setting remain significantly intact.

Modifications and dates
  1818 - Site was occupied. The stone rubble kitchen may be an earlier cottage from the establishment phase.
  1842 or earlier - central hall and 4 rooms. Dairy (creamery); Horsley butter fetched 4 shillings / pound in Sydney in the 1850s; Stables
  1872 Eastern and western rooms of house added.
 1880 - Dairy (creamery) used as cheese factory, access track from north is likely to have still been in use.
 1909 - reinforced concrete silo, early for district; ( Alne Bank, Gerringong 1908)
 date of milking bail shed / chaff cutting shed, cow shed is unknown, likely to relate to silo.
 1971 - cheese and butter making tools donated to Illawarra Historical Society Museum.
  1980 -Hazeltons Grocery Hardware and Haberdashery shop was moved to Horsley from Albion Park; public WC built; silo re-roofed.
 Early/mid 1980s room built between house & dairy, retained dairy as separate building.

Heritage listing
Horsley Homestead is a rare intact example of a 19th-century Georgian style farm complex and garden in Illawarra. The property was one of the earliest to be owner occupied and was associated with the Lindsay family who was influential in the dairy industry and region, particularly rural based activities. The property demonstrates building materials, techniques and design used in the Illawarra throughout the 1800s. The site includes one of the earliest known reinforced concrete silos, the only cow shed known in Illawarra where cattle were individually tethered and an early random rubble stable with timber stalls. The house is a fine example of early 19th century rural architecture with the original detached stone kitchen and separate brick and stone dairy.

Horsley Homestead was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 4 August 2000 having satisfied the following criteria.

The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales.

Horsley is associated with the Western Family who settled on the property in 1818, one of the first to owner occupiers in the district. It is associated with the clearing lease settlement process, and supported numerous small tenancies, typical of the early 1800s. Horsley is associated with the Lindsay family who were innovative farmers and regional leaders in the dairy industry. Horsley is associated with the evolution of the dairy industry in Illawarra. The region became renowned for progressive herd and pasture techniques enabling it to become a major supplier of milk to the Sydney market.

The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.

Horsley is sited on a knoll and forms a visual landmark, made distinctive by the significant elements of its 19th century garden including significant trees; a Bunya Bunya Pine, 5 Morton Bay Figs, Tecoma Hedge and the early farm buildings; the house with a detached kitchen and separate dairy (creamery), stables, milking bail and chaff cutting shed, early silo and cow shed.

The place has strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in New South Wales for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.

The property was operated as a museum followed by a function venue during the 1970s and 80s. The current owners have also opened the house and grounds to the public on a number of occasions to raise funds for others. Earlier owners were publicly minded and held civic roles. Consequently, Horsley is well known and highly regarded by the past and present community. This regard is reflected in the property's inclusion on all relevant heritage lists.

The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.

The silo and chaff cutting area demonstrates the technological shift to improved pasture and all year round nutrient supply for dairy herds. The Illawarra region was quick to invest in improved breeding and feeding of Dairy Herds and the Lindsay family, owners of Horsley, pioneered these techniques in the district. The site has evolved throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries and demonstrates building techniques employed during that time. The site has been occupied since 1818 and remains relatively undisturbed. It is considered to have high archaeological potential.

The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.

Horsley remains as a rare, substantially intact complex of 19th century dairy farm buildings with significant landscape elements, in central Illawarra, which was a major dairying region until the mid 1900s. The property retains rare examples of dairy related structures including an early reinforced concrete silo, cow shed with tethering fixtures, 19th century stone stable with timber stalls and brick dairy (creamery).

The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural or natural places/environments in New South Wales.

The site represents the 19th century dairying practises through the building materials, construction techniques and location of the structures within the landscape. The major landscape elements including the Bunya Bunya Pine, Tecoma hedge and natural round gate posts within the site and the row of Morton Bay Fig trees adjoining the site, now in different ownership, represent plants and features used in major 19th century gardens in Illawarra and other rural areas.

See also

References

Bibliography

Attribution

New South Wales State Heritage Register
Houses in Sydney
Farms in New South Wales
Historic house museums in New South Wales
Event venues in New South Wales
Homesteads in New South Wales
Articles incorporating text from the New South Wales State Heritage Register
Buildings and structures in Wollongong

Horsley Homestead


Dinocephalosaurus is a genus of long necked, aquatic Archosaurs which lived in the Triassic seas. Its fossils are found in 244 ± 1.3 million year old rocks.

Didocephalosaurus means "terrible headed lizard". The first specimen found was just a skull, discovered near Xinmin in Guizhou Province, China in 2002. The second specimen found nearby, and was the head and much of the postcrainal skeleton, minus the tail. Dinocephalosaurus is the "first record of protorosaurid reptile (Order Protorosauria) from the Middle Triassic of China".

A new specimen found in Yunnan Province, southern China, showed evidence of live births (ovoviviparity). This is the earliest known example of this in the large group of tetrapods which includes dinosaurs, crocodiles, pterosaurs and birds.

References

Archosaurs

Dinocephalosaurus


Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the south-central region of the Southern United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage language, a Dhegiha Siouan language, and referred to their relatives, the Quapaw people. The state's diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U.S. Interior Highlands, to the densely forested land in the south known as the Arkansas Timberlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River and the Arkansas Delta.

Arkansas is the 29th largest by area and the 34th most populous state, with a population of just over 3 million at the 2020 census. The capital and most populous city is Little Rock, in the central part of the state, a hub for transportation, business, culture, and government. The northwestern corner of the state, including the Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers Metropolitan Area and Fort Smith metropolitan area, is a population, education, and economic center. The largest city in the state's eastern part is Jonesboro. The largest city in the state's southeastern part is Pine Bluff.

Previously part of French Louisiana and the Louisiana Purchase, the Territory of Arkansas was admitted to the Union as the 25th state on June 15, 1836. Much of the Delta had been developed for cotton plantations, and landowners there largely depended on enslaved African Americans' labor. In 1861, Arkansas seceded from the United States and joined the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. On returning to the Union in 1868, Arkansas continued to suffer economically, due to its overreliance on the large-scale plantation economy. Cotton remained the leading commodity crop, and the cotton market declined. Because farmers and businessmen did not diversify and there was little industrial investment, the state fell behind in economic opportunity. In the late 19th century, the state instituted various Jim Crow laws to disenfranchise and segregate the African-American population. White interests dominated Arkansas's politics, with disenfranchisement of African Americans and refusal to reapportion the legislature; only after the federal legislation passed were more African Americans able to vote. During the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, Arkansas and particularly Little Rock were major battlegrounds for efforts to integrate schools.

Following World War II in the 1940s, Arkansas began to diversify its economy and see prosperity. During the 1960s, the state became the base of the Walmart corporation, the world's largest company by revenue, headquartered in Bentonville. In the 21st century, Arkansas's economy is based on service industries, aircraft, poultry, steel, and tourism, along with important commodity crops of cotton, soybeans and rice.

Arkansas's culture is observable in museums, theaters, novels, television shows, restaurants, and athletic venues across the state. Notable people from the state include politician and educational advocate William Fulbright; former president Bill Clinton, who also served as the 40th and 42nd governor of Arkansas; general Wesley Clark, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander; Walmart founder and magnate Sam Walton; singer-songwriters Johnny Cash, Charlie Rich, Jimmy Driftwood, and Glen Campbell; actor-filmmaker Billy Bob Thornton; poet C. D. Wright; physicist William L. McMillan, a pioneer in superconductor research; poet laureate Maya Angelou; Douglas MacArthur; musician Al Green; actor Alan Ladd; basketball player Scottie Pippen; singer Ne-Yo; Chelsea Clinton; actress Sheryl Underwood; and author John Grisham.

Etymology

The name Arkansas initially applied to the Arkansas River. It derives from a French term, Arcansas, their plural term for their transliteration of akansa, an Algonquian term for the Quapaw people. These were a Dhegiha Siouan-speaking people who settled in Arkansas around the 13th century. Kansa is likely also the root term for Kansas, which was named after the related Kaw people.

The name has been pronounced and spelled in a variety of ways. In 1881, the state legislature defined the official pronunciation of Arkansas as having the final "s" be silent (as it would be in French). A dispute had arisen between the state's two senators over the pronunciation issue. One favored  (), the other  ().

In 2007, the state legislature passed a non-binding resolution declaring that the possessive form of the state's name is Arkansas's, which the state government has increasingly followed.

History

Early history

Before European settlement of North America, Arkansas, was inhabited by indigenous peoples for thousands of years. The Caddo, Osage, and Quapaw peoples encountered European explorers. The first of these Europeans was Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto in 1541, who crossed the Mississippi and marched across central Arkansas and the Ozark Mountains. After finding nothing he considered of value and encountering native resistance the entire way, he and his men returned to the Mississippi River where de Soto fell ill. From his deathbed he ordered his men to massacre all the men of the nearby village of Anilco, who he feared had been plotting with a powerful polity down the Mississippi River, Quigualtam. His men obeyed and did not stop with the men, but were said to have massacred women and children as well. He died the following day in what is believed to be the vicinity of modern-day McArthur, Arkansas, in May 1542. His body was weighted down with sand and he was consigned to a watery grave in the Mississippi River under cover of darkness by his men. De Soto had attempted to deceive the native population into thinking he was an immortal deity, sun of the sun, in order to forestall attack by outraged Native Americans on his by then weakened and bedraggled army. In order to keep the ruse up, his men informed the locals that de Soto had ascended into the sky. His will at the time of his death listed "four Indian slaves, three horses and 700 hogs" which were auctioned off. The starving men, who had been living off maize stolen from natives, immediately started butchering the hogs and later, commanded by former aide-de-camp Moscoso, attempted an overland return to Mexico. They made it as far as Texas before running into territory too dry for maize farming and too thinly populated to sustain themselves by stealing food from the locals. The expedition promptly backtracked to Arkansas. After building a small fleet of boats they then headed down the Mississippi River and eventually on to Mexico by water.

Later explorers included the French Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet in 1673, and Frenchmen Robert La Salle and Henri de Tonti in 1681. Tonti established Arkansas Post at a Quapaw village in 1686, making it the first European settlement in the territory. The early Spanish or French explorers of the state gave it its name, which is probably a phonetic spelling of the Illinois tribe's name for the Quapaw people, who lived downriver from them. The name Arkansas has been pronounced and spelled in a variety of fashions. The region was organized as the Territory of Arkansaw on July 4, 1819, with the territory admitted to the United States as the state of Arkansas on June 15, 1836. The name was historically , , and several other variants. Historically and modernly, the people of Arkansas call themselves either "Arkansans" or "Arkansawyers". In 1881, the Arkansas General Assembly passed Arkansas Code 1-4-105 (official text):
Whereas, confusion of practice has arisen in the pronunciation of the name of our state and it is deemed important that the true pronunciation should be determined for use in oral official proceedings.
And, whereas, the matter has been thoroughly investigated by the State Historical Society and the Eclectic Society of Little Rock, which have agreed upon the correct pronunciation as derived from history, and the early usage of the American immigrants.
Be it therefore resolved by both houses of the General Assembly, that the only true pronunciation of the name of the state, in the opinion of this body, is that received by the French from the native Indians and committed to writing in the French word representing the sound. It should be pronounced in three (3) syllables, with the final "s" silent, the "a" in each syllable with the Italian sound, and the accent on the first and last syllables. The pronunciation with the accent on the second syllable with the sound of "a" in "man" and the sounding of the terminal "s" is an innovation to be discouraged.
Citizens of the state of Kansas often pronounce the Arkansas River as , in a manner similar to the common pronunciation of the name of their state.

Settlers, such as fur trappers, moved to Arkansas in the early 18th century. These people used Arkansas Post as a home base and entrepôt. During the colonial period, Arkansas changed hands between France and Spain following the Seven Years' War, although neither showed interest in the remote settlement of Arkansas Post. In April 1783, Arkansas saw its only battle of the American Revolutionary War, a brief siege of the post by British Captain James Colbert with the assistance of the Choctaw and Chickasaw.

Purchase and statehood

Napoleon Bonaparte sold French Louisiana to the United States in 1803, including all of Arkansas, in a transaction known today as the Louisiana Purchase. French soldiers remained as a garrison at Arkansas Post. Following the purchase, the balanced give-and-take relationship between settlers and Native Americans began to change all along the frontier, including in Arkansas. Following a controversy over allowing slavery in the territory, the Territory of Arkansas was organized on July 4, 1819. Gradual emancipation in Arkansas was struck down by one vote, the Speaker of the House Henry Clay, allowing Arkansas to organize as a slave territory.

Slavery became a wedge issue in Arkansas, forming a geographic divide that remained for decades. Owners and operators of the cotton plantation economy in southeast Arkansas firmly supported slavery, as they perceived slave labor as the best or "only" economically viable method of harvesting their commodity crops. The "hill country" of northwest Arkansas was unable to grow cotton and relied on a cash-scarce, subsistence farming economy.

As European Americans settled throughout the East Coast and into the Midwest, in the 1830s the United States government forced the removal of many Native American tribes to Arkansas and Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River.

Additional Native American removals began in earnest during the territorial period, with final Quapaw removal complete by 1833 as they were pushed into Indian Territory. The capital was relocated from Arkansas Post to Little Rock in 1821, during the territorial period.

When Arkansas applied for statehood, the slavery issue was again raised in Washington, D.C. Congress eventually approved the Arkansas Constitution after a 25-hour session, admitting Arkansas on June 15, 1836, as the 25th state and the 13th slave state, having a population of about 60,000. Arkansas struggled with taxation to support its new state government, a problem made worse by a state banking scandal and worse yet by the Panic of 1837.

Civil War and Reconstruction

In early antebellum Arkansas, the southeast Arkansas slave-based economy developed rapidly. On the eve of the American Civil War in 1860, enslaved African Americans numbered 111,115 people, just over 25% of the state's population. A plantation system based largely on cotton agriculture developed that, after the war, kept the state and region behind the nation for decades. The wealth developed among planters of southeast Arkansas caused a political rift between the northwest and southeast.

Many politicians were elected to office from the Family, the Southern rights political force in antebellum Arkansas. Residents generally wanted to avoid a civil war. When the Gulf states seceded in early 1861, delegates to a convention called to determine whether Arkansas should secede referred the question back to the voters for a referendum to be held in August. Arkansas did not secede until Abraham Lincoln demanded Arkansas troops be sent to Fort Sumter to quell the rebellion there. On May 6, the members of the state convention, having been recalled by the convention president, voted to terminate Arkansas's membership in the Union and join the Confederate States of America.

Arkansas held a very important position for the Rebels, maintaining control of the Mississippi River and surrounding Southern states. The bloody Battle of Wilson's Creek just across the border in Missouri shocked many Arkansans who thought the war would be a quick and decisive Southern victory. Battles early in the war took place in northwest Arkansas, including the Battle of Cane Hill, Battle of Pea Ridge, and Battle of Prairie Grove. Union general Samuel Curtis swept across the state to Helena in the Delta in 1862. Little Rock was captured the following year. The government shifted the state Confederate capital to Hot Springs, and then again to Washington from 1863 to 1865, for the remainder of the war. Throughout the state, guerrilla warfare ravaged the countryside and destroyed cities. Passion for the Confederate cause waned after implementation of programs such as the draft, high taxes, and martial law.

Under the Military Reconstruction Act, Congress declared Arkansas restored to the Union in June 1868, after the Legislature accepted the 14th Amendment. The Republican-controlled reconstruction legislature established universal male suffrage (though temporarily disfranchising former Confederate Army officers, who were all Democrats), a public education system for blacks and whites, and passed general issues to improve the state and help more of the population. The State soon came under control of the Radical Republicans and Unionists, and led by Governor Powell Clayton, they presided over a time of great upheaval as Confederate sympathizers and the Ku Klux Klan fought the new developments, particularly voting rights for African Americans.

End of Reconstruction and late 19th century
In 1874, the Brooks-Baxter War, a political struggle between factions of the Republican Party shook Little Rock and the state governorship. It was settled only when President Ulysses S. Grant ordered Joseph Brooks to disperse his militant supporters.

Following the Brooks-Baxter War, a new state constitution was ratified, re-enfranchising former Confederates and effectively bringing an end to Reconstruction.

In 1881, the Arkansas state legislature enacted a bill that adopted an official pronunciation of the state's name, to combat a controversy then simmering. (See Law and Government below.)

After Reconstruction, the state began to receive more immigrants and migrants. Chinese, Italian, and Syrian men were recruited for farm labor in the developing Delta region. None of these nationalities stayed long at farm labor; the Chinese especially, as they quickly became small merchants in towns around the Delta. Many Chinese became such successful merchants in small towns that they were able to educate their children at college.

Construction of railroads enabled more farmers to get their products to market. It also brought new development into different parts of the state, including the Ozarks, where some areas were developed as resorts. In a few years at the end of the 19th century, for instance, Eureka Springs in Carroll County grew to 10,000 people, rapidly becoming a tourist destination and the fourth-largest city of the state. It featured newly constructed, elegant resort hotels and spas planned around its natural springs, considered to have healthful properties. The town's attractions included horse racing and other entertainment. It appealed to a wide variety of classes, becoming almost as popular as Hot Springs.

Rise of the Jim Crow laws and early 20th century

In the late 1880s, the worsening agricultural depression catalyzed Populist and third party movements, leading to interracial coalitions. Struggling to stay in power, in the 1890s the Democrats in Arkansas followed other Southern states in passing legislation and constitutional amendments that disfranchised blacks and poor whites. In 1891 state legislators passed a requirement for a literacy test, knowing it would exclude many blacks and whites. At the time, more than 25% of the population could neither read nor write. In 1892, they amended the state constitution to require a poll tax and more complex residency requirements, both of which adversely affected poor people and sharecroppers, forcing most blacks and many poor whites from voter rolls.

By 1900 the Democratic Party expanded use of the white primary in county and state elections, further denying blacks a part in the political process. Only in the primary was there any competition among candidates, as Democrats held all the power. The state was a Democratic one-party state for decades, until after passage of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 to enforce constitutional rights.

Between 1905 and 1911, Arkansas began to receive a small immigration of German, Slovak, and Scots-Irish from Europe. The German and Slovak peoples settled in the eastern part of the state known as the Prairie, and the Irish founded small communities in the southeast part of the state. The Germans were mostly Lutheran and the Slovaks were primarily Catholic. The Irish were mostly Protestant from Ulster, of Scots and Northern Borders descent. Some early 20th-century immigration included people from eastern Europe. Together, these immigrants made the Delta more diverse than the rest of the state. In the same years, some black migrants moved into the area because of opportunities to develop the bottomlands and own their own property.

Black sharecroppers began to try to organize a farmers' union after World WarI. They were seeking better conditions of payment and accounting from white landowners of the area cotton plantations. Whites resisted any change and often tried to break up their meetings. On September 30, 1919, two white men, including a local deputy, tried to break up a meeting of black sharecroppers who were trying to organize a farmers' union. After a white deputy was killed in a confrontation with guards at the meeting, word spread to town and around the area. Hundreds of whites from Phillips and neighboring areas rushed to suppress the blacks, and started attacking blacks at large. Governor Charles Hillman Brough requested federal troops to stop what was called the Elaine massacre. White mobs spread throughout the county, killing an estimated 237 blacks before most of the violence was suppressed after October 1. Five whites also died in the incident. The governor accompanied the troops to the scene; President Woodrow Wilson had approved their use.

The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 flooded the areas along the Ouachita Rivers along with many other rivers.

Based on the order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt given shortly after Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, nearly 16,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from the West Coast of the United States and incarcerated in two internment camps in the Arkansas Delta. The Rohwer Camp in Desha County operated from September 1942 to November 1945 and at its peak interned 8,475 prisoners. The Jerome War Relocation Center in Drew County operated from October 1942 to June 1944 and held about 8,000.

Fall of segregation
After the Supreme Court ruled segregation in public schools unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954), some students worked to integrate schools in the state. The Little Rock Nine brought Arkansas to national attention in 1957 when the federal government had to intervene to protect African-American students trying to integrate a high school in the capital. Governor Orval Faubus had ordered the Arkansas National Guard to help segregationists prevent nine African-American students from enrolling at Little Rock's Central High School. After attempting three times to contact Faubus, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent 1,000 troops from the active-duty 101st Airborne Division to escort and protect the African-American students as they entered school on September 25, 1957. In defiance of federal court orders to integrate, the governor and city of Little Rock decided to close the high schools for the remainder of the school year. By the fall of 1959, the Little Rock high schools were completely integrated.

Geography

Boundaries
Arkansas borders Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, Oklahoma to the west, Missouri to the north, and Tennessee and Mississippi to the east. The United States Census Bureau classifies Arkansas as a southern state, sub-categorized among the West South Central States. The Mississippi River forms most of its eastern border, except in Clay and Greene counties, where the St. Francis River forms the western boundary of the Missouri Bootheel, and in many places where the channel of the Mississippi has meandered (or been straightened by man) from its original 1836 course.

Terrain

Arkansas can generally be split into two halves, the highlands in the northwest and the lowlands of the southeast. The highlands are part of the Southern Interior Highlands, including The Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains. The southern lowlands include the Gulf Coastal Plain and the Arkansas Delta. This split can yield to a regional division into northwest, southwest, northeast, southeast, and central Arkansas. These regions are broad and not defined along county lines. Arkansas has seven distinct natural regions: the Ozark Mountains, Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas River Valley, Gulf Coastal Plain, Crowley's Ridge, and the Arkansas Delta, with Central Arkansas sometimes included as a blend of multiple regions.

The southeastern part of Arkansas along the Mississippi Alluvial Plain is sometimes called the Arkansas Delta. This region is a flat landscape of rich alluvial soils formed by repeated flooding of the adjacent Mississippi. Farther from the river, in the southeastern part of the state, the Grand Prairie has a more undulating landscape. Both are fertile agricultural areas. The Delta region is bisected by a geological formation known as Crowley's Ridge. A narrow band of rolling hills, Crowley's Ridge rises  above the surrounding alluvial plain and underlies many of eastern Arkansas's major towns.

Northwest Arkansas is part of the Ozark Plateau including the Ozark Mountains, to the south are the Ouachita Mountains, and these regions are divided by the Arkansas River; the southern and eastern parts of Arkansas are called the Lowlands. These mountain ranges are part of the U.S. Interior Highlands region, the only major mountainous region between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains. The state's highest point is Mount Magazine in the Ouachita Mountains, which is  above sea level.

Arkansas is home to many caves, such as Blanchard Springs Caverns. The State Archeologist has catalogued more than 43,000 Native American living, hunting and tool-making sites, many of them Pre-Columbian burial mounds and rock shelters. Crater of Diamonds State Park near Murfreesboro is the world's only diamond-bearing site accessible to the public for digging. Arkansas is home to a dozen Wilderness Areas totaling . These areas are set aside for outdoor recreation and are open to hunting, fishing, hiking, and primitive camping. No mechanized vehicles nor developed campgrounds are allowed in these areas.

Hydrology

Arkansas has many rivers, lakes, and reservoirs within or along its borders. Major tributaries to the Mississippi River include the Arkansas River, the White River, and the St. Francis River. The Arkansas is fed by the Mulberry and Fourche LaFave Rivers in the Arkansas River Valley, which is also home to Lake Dardanelle. The Buffalo, Little Red, Black and Cache Rivers are all tributaries to the White River, which also empties into the Mississippi. Bayou Bartholomew and the Saline, Little Missouri, and Caddo Rivers are all tributaries to the Ouachita River in south Arkansas, which empties into the Mississippi in Louisiana. The Red River briefly forms the state's boundary with Texas. Arkansas has few natural lakes and many reservoirs, such as Bull Shoals Lake, Lake Ouachita, Greers Ferry Lake, Millwood Lake, Beaver Lake, Norfork Lake, DeGray Lake, and Lake Conway.

Flora and fauna

Arkansas's temperate deciduous forest is divided into three broad ecoregions: the Ozark, Ouachita-Appalachian Forests, the Mississippi Alluvial and Southeast USA Coastal Plains, and the Southeastern USA Plains. The state is further divided into seven subregions: the Arkansas Valley, Boston Mountains, Mississippi Alluvial Plain, Mississippi Valley Loess Plain, Ozark Highlands, Ouachita Mountains, and the South Central Plains. A 2010 United States Forest Service survey determined  of Arkansas's land is forestland, or 56% of the state's total area. Dominant species in Arkansas's forests include Quercus (oak), Carya (hickory), Pinus echinata (shortleaf pine) and Pinus taeda (loblolly pine).

Arkansas's plant life varies with its climate and elevation. The pine belt stretching from the Arkansas delta to Texas consists of dense oak-hickory-pine growth. Lumbering and paper milling activity is active throughout the region. In eastern Arkansas, one can find Taxodium  (cypress), Quercus nigra (water oaks), and hickories with their roots submerged in the Mississippi Valley bayous indicative of the deep south. Nearby Crowley's Ridge is the only home of the tulip tree in the state, and generally hosts more northeastern plant life such as the beech tree. The northwestern highlands are covered in an oak-hickory mixture, with Ozark white cedars, cornus (dogwoods), and Cercis canadensis (redbuds) also present. The higher peaks in the Arkansas River Valley play host to scores of ferns, including the Physematium scopulinum and Adiantum (maidenhair fern) on Mount Magazine. Arkansas wildlife is famous for the white-tailed deer, elk, and bald eagle. The white-tailed deer is the official state mammal.

Climate

Arkansas generally has a humid subtropical climate. While not bordering the Gulf of Mexico, Arkansas, is still close enough to the warm, large body of water for it to influence the weather in the state. Generally, Arkansas, has hot, humid summers and slightly drier, mild to cool winters. In Little Rock, the daily high temperatures average around  with lows around  in July. In January highs average around  and lows around . In Siloam Springs in the northwest part of the state, the average high and low temperatures in July are  and in January the average high and low are . Annual precipitation throughout the state averages between about ; it is somewhat wetter in the south and drier in the northern part of the state. Snowfall is infrequent but most common in the northern half of the state. The half of the state south of Little Rock is apter to see ice storms. Arkansas's record high is  at Ozark on August 10, 1936; the record low is  at Gravette, on February 13, 1905.

Arkansas is known for extreme weather and frequent storms. A typical year brings thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail, snow and ice storms. Between both the Great Plains and the Gulf States, Arkansas, receives around 60 days of thunderstorms. Arkansas is located in Tornado Alley, and as a result, a few of the most destructive tornadoes in U.S. history have struck the state. While sufficiently far from the coast to avoid a direct hit from a hurricane, Arkansas can often get the remnants of a tropical system, which dumps tremendous amounts of rain in a short time and often spawns smaller tornadoes.

Cities and towns

Little Rock has been Arkansas's capital city since 1821 when it replaced Arkansas Post as the capital of the Territory of Arkansas. The state capitol was moved to Hot Springs and later Washington during the American Civil War when the Union armies threatened the city in 1862, and state government did not return to Little Rock until after the war ended. Today, the Little Rock–North Little Rock–Conway metropolitan area is the largest in the state, with a population of 724,385 in 2013.

The Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers Metropolitan Area is the second-largest metropolitan area in Arkansas, growing at the fastest rate due to the influx of businesses and the growth of the University of Arkansas and Walmart.

The state has eight cities with populations above 50,000 (based on 2010 census). In descending order of size, they are Little Rock, Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Springdale, Jonesboro, North Little Rock, Conway, and Rogers. Of these, only Fort Smith and Jonesboro are outside the two largest metropolitan areas. Other cities in Arkansas include Pine Bluff, Crossett, Bryant, Lake Village, Hot Springs, Bentonville, Texarkana, Sherwood, Jacksonville, Russellville, Bella Vista, West Memphis, Paragould, Cabot, Searcy, Van Buren, El Dorado, Blytheville, Harrison, Dumas, Rison, Warren, and Mountain Home.

Demographics

Population

The United States Census Bureau estimated that the population of Arkansas was 3,017,804 on July 1, 2019, a 3.49% increase since the 2010 United States census. At the 2020 U.S. census, Arkansas had a resident population of 3,011,524.

From fewer than 15,000 in 1820, Arkansas's population grew to 52,240 during a special census in 1835, far exceeding the 40,000 required to apply for statehood. Following statehood in 1836, the population doubled each decade until the 1870 census conducted following the American Civil War. The state recorded growth in each successive decade, although it gradually slowed in the 20th century.

It recorded population losses in the 1950 and 1960 censuses. This outmigration was a result of multiple factors, including farm mechanization, decreasing labor demand, and young educated people leaving the state due to a lack of non-farming industry in the state. Arkansas again began to grow, recording positive growth rates ever since and exceeding two million by the 1980 census. Arkansas's rate of change, age distributions, and gender distributions mirror national averages. Minority group data also approximates national averages. There are fewer people in Arkansas of Hispanic or Latino origin than the national average. The center of population of Arkansas for 2000 was located in Perry County, near Nogal.

According to HUD's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 2,459 homeless people in Arkansas.

Race and ethnicity
Per the 2019 census estimates, Arkansas was 72.0% non-Hispanic white, 15.4% Black or African American, 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.5% Asian, 0.4% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, 0.1% some other race, 2.4% two or more races, and 7.7% Hispanic or Latin American of any race. In 2011, the state was 80.1% white (74.2% non-Hispanic white), 15.6% Black or African American, 0.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3% Asian, and 1.8% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race made up 6.6% of the population. As of 2011, 39.0% of Arkansas's population younger than age1 were minorities.

European Americans have a strong presence in the northwestern Ozarks and the central part of the state. African Americans live mainly in the southern and eastern parts of the state. Arkansans of Irish, English and German ancestry are mostly found in the far northwestern Ozarks near the Missouri border. Ancestors of the Irish in the Ozarks were chiefly Scots-Irish, Protestants from Northern Ireland, the Scottish lowlands and northern England part of the largest group of immigrants from Great Britain and Ireland before the American Revolution. English and Scots-Irish immigrants settled throughout the back country of the South and in the more mountainous areas. Americans of English stock are found throughout the state.

A 2010 survey of the principal ancestries of Arkansas's residents revealed the following: 15.5% African American, 12.3% Irish, 11.5% German, 11.0% American, 10.1% English, 4.7% Mexican, 2.1% French, 1.7% Scottish, 1.7% Dutch, 1.6% Italian, and 1.4% Scots-Irish.

Most people identifying as "American" are of English descent or Scots-Irish descent. Their families have been in the state so long, in many cases since before statehood, that they choose to identify simply as having American ancestry or do not in fact know their ancestry. Their ancestry primarily goes back to the original 13 colonies and for this reason many of them today simply claim American ancestry. Many people who identify as of Irish descent are in fact of Scots-Irish descent.

According to the American Immigration Council, in 2015, the top countries of origin for Arkansas' immigrants were Mexico, El Salvador, India, Vietnam, and Guatemala.

According to the 2006–2008 American Community Survey, 93.8% of Arkansas's population (over the age of five) spoke only English at home. About 4.5% of the state's population spoke Spanish at home. About 0.7% of the state's population spoke another Indo-European language. About 0.8% of the state's population spoke an Asian language, and 0.2% spoke other languages.

Religion

Like most other Southern states, Arkansas is part of the Bible Belt and predominantly Protestant. The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2010 were the Southern Baptist Convention with 661,382; the United Methodist Church with 158,574; non-denominational Evangelical Protestants with 129,638; the Catholic Church with 122,662; and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with 31,254. Some residents of the state have other religions, such as Islam, Judaism, Wicca/Paganism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and some have no religious affiliation.

In 2014, the Pew Research Center determined that 79% of the population was Christian, dominated by evangelicals in the Southern Baptist and independent Baptist churches. In contrast with many other states, the Catholic Church as of 2014 was not the largest Christian denomination in Arkansas. Of the unaffiliated population, 2% were atheist in 2014. By 2020, the Public Religion Research Institute determined 71% of the population was Christian. Arkansas continued to be dominated by evangelicals, followed by mainline Protestants and historically black or African American churches.

Economy

Once a state with a cashless society in the uplands and plantation agriculture in the lowlands, Arkansas's economy has evolved and diversified. The state's gross domestic product (GDP) was $119billion in 2015. Six Fortune 500 companies are based in Arkansas, including the world's #1 retailer, Walmart; Tyson Foods, J.B. Hunt, Dillard's, Murphy USA, and Windstream are also headquartered in the state. The per capita personal income in 2015 was $39,107, ranking 45th in the nation. The median household income from 2011 to 2015 was $41,371, ranking 49th in the nation. The state's agriculture outputs are poultry and eggs, soybeans, sorghum, cattle, cotton, rice, hogs, and milk. Its industrial outputs are food processing, electric equipment, fabricated metal products, machinery, and paper products. Arkansas's mines produce natural gas, oil, crushed stone, bromine, and vanadium. According to CNBC, Arkansas is the 20th-best state for business, with the 2nd-lowest cost of doing business, 5th-lowest cost of living, 11th-best workforce, 20th-best economic climate, 28th-best-educated workforce, 31st-best infrastructure and the 32nd-friendliest regulatory environment.  Arkansas gained 12 spots in the best state for business rankings since 2011. As of 2014, it was the most affordable state to live in.

As of June 2021, the state's unemployment rate was 4.4%; the preliminary rate for November 2021 is 3.4%.

Industry and commerce
Arkansas's earliest industries were fur trading and agriculture, with development of cotton plantations in the areas near the Mississippi River. They were dependent on slave labor through the American Civil War.

Today only about three percent of the population are employed in the agricultural sector, it remains a major part of the state's economy, ranking 13th in the nation in the value of products sold. Arkansas is the nation's largest producer of rice, broilers, and turkeys, and ranks in the top three for cotton, pullets, and aquaculture (catfish). Forestry remains strong in the Arkansas Timberlands, and the state ranks fourth nationally and first in the South in softwood lumber production. Automobile parts manufacturers have opened factories in eastern Arkansas to support auto plants in other states. Bauxite was formerly a large part of the state's economy, mined mostly around Saline County.

Tourism is also very important to the Arkansas economy; the official state nickname "The Natural State" was created for state tourism advertising in the 1970s, and is still used to this day. The state maintains 52 state parks and the National Park Service maintains seven properties in Arkansas. The completion of the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock has drawn many visitors to the city and revitalized the nearby River Market District. Many cities also hold festivals, which draw tourists to Arkansas culture, such as The Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival in Warren, King Biscuit Blues Festival, Ozark Folk Festival, Toad Suck Daze, and Tontitown Grape Festival.

Transportation

Transportation in Arkansas is overseen by the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ArDOT), headquartered in Little Rock. Several main corridors pass through Little Rock, including Interstate30 (I-30) and I-40 (the nation's 3rd-busiest trucking corridor). Arkansas first designated a state highway system in 1924, and first numbered its roads in 1926. Arkansas had one of the first paved roads, the Dollarway Road, and one of the first members of the Interstate Highway System. The state maintains a large system of state highways today, in addition to eight Interstates and 20 U.S. Routes.

In northeast Arkansas, I-55 travels north from Memphis to Missouri, with a new spur to Jonesboro (I-555). Northwest Arkansas is served by the segment of I-49 from Fort Smith to the beginning of the Bella Vista Bypass. This segment of I-49 currently follows mostly the same route as the former section of I-540 that extended north of I-40. The state also has the 13th largest state highway system in the nation.

Arkansas is served by  of railroad track divided among twenty-six railroad companies including three Class I railroads. Freight railroads are concentrated in southeast Arkansas to serve the industries in the region. The Texas Eagle, an Amtrak passenger train, serves five stations in the state Walnut Ridge, Little Rock, Malvern, Arkadelphia, and Texarkana.

Arkansas also benefits from the use of its rivers for commerce. The Mississippi River and Arkansas River are both major rivers. The United States Army Corps of Engineers maintains the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, allowing barge traffic up the Arkansas River to the Port of Catoosa in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

There are four airports with commercial service: Clinton National Airport (formerly Little Rock National Airport or Adams Field), Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, Fort Smith Regional Airport, and Texarkana Regional Airport, with dozens of smaller airports in the state.

Intercity bus services across the state are provided by Flixbus, Greyhound Lines, and Jefferson Lines.

Public transit and community transport services for the elderly or those with developmental disabilities are provided by agencies such as the Central Arkansas Transit Authority and the Ozark Regional Transit, organizations that are part of the Arkansas Transit Association.

Government

As with the federal government of the United States, political power in Arkansas is divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. Each officer's term is four years long. Office holders are term-limited to two full terms plus any partial terms before the first full term.

Executive

The governor of Arkansas is Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a Republican, who was inaugurated on January 10, 2023. The six other elected executive positions in Arkansas are lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer, auditor, and land commissioner. The governor also appoints the leaders of various state boards, committees, and departments. Arkansas governors served two-year terms until a referendum lengthened the term to four years, effective with the 1986 election. Individuals elected to these offices are limited to a lifetime total of two four-year terms per office.

In Arkansas, the lieutenant governor is elected separately from the governor and thus can be from a different political party.

Legislative

The Arkansas General Assembly is the state's bicameral bodies of legislators, composed of the Senate and House of Representatives. The Senate contains 35 members from districts of approximately equal population. These districts are redrawn decennially with each US census, and in election years ending in "2", the entire body is put up for reelection. Following the election, half of the seats are designated as two-year seats and are up for reelection again in two years, these "half-terms" do not count against a legislator's term limits. The remaining half serve a full four-year term. This staggers elections such that half the body is up for reelection every two years and allows for complete body turnover following redistricting. Arkansas voters elected a 21–14 Republican majority in the Senate in 2012. Arkansas House members can serve a maximum of three two-year terms. House districts are redistricted by the Arkansas Board of Apportionment. In the 2012 elections, Republicans gained a 51–49 majority in the House of Representatives.

The Republican Party majority status in the Arkansas State House of Representatives after the 2012 elections, is the party's first since 1874. Arkansas was the last state of the old Confederacy to not have Republican control of either chamber of its house since the American Civil War.

Following the term limits changes, studies have shown that lobbyists have become less influential in state politics. Legislative staff, not subject to term limits, have acquired additional power and influence due to the high rate of elected official turnover.

Judicial

Arkansas's judicial branch has five court systems: Arkansas Supreme Court, Arkansas Court of Appeals, Circuit Courts, District Courts and City Courts.

Most cases begin in district court, which is subdivided into state district court and local district court. State district courts exercise district-wide jurisdiction over the districts created by the General Assembly, and local district courts are presided over by part-time judges who may privately practice law. 25 state district court judges preside over 15 districts, with more districts created in 2013 and 2017. There are 28 judicial circuits of Circuit Court, with each contains five subdivisions: criminal, civil, probate, domestic relations, and juvenile court. The jurisdiction of the Arkansas Court of Appeals is determined by the Arkansas Supreme Court, and there is no right of appeal from the Court of Appeals to the high court. The Arkansas Supreme Court can review Court of Appeals cases upon application by either a party to the litigation, upon request by the Court of Appeals, or if the Arkansas Supreme Court feels the case should have been initially assigned to it. The twelve judges of the Arkansas Court of Appeals are elected from judicial districts to renewable six-year terms.

The Arkansas Supreme Court is the court of last resort in the state, composed of seven justices elected to eight-year terms. Established by the Arkansas Constitution in 1836, the court's decisions can be appealed to only the Supreme Court of the United States.

Federal
Both Arkansas's U.S. senators, John Boozman and Tom Cotton, are Republicans. The state has four seats in U.S. House of Representatives. All four seats are held by Republicans: Rick Crawford (1st district), French Hill (2nd district), Steve Womack (3rd district), and Bruce Westerman (4th district).

Politics

Arkansas governor Bill Clinton brought national attention to the state with a long speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention endorsing Michael Dukakis. Some journalists suggested the speech was a threat to his ambitions; Clinton defined it "a comedy of error, just one of those fluky things". He won the Democratic nomination for president in 1992. Presenting himself as a "New Democrat" and using incumbent George H. W. Bush's broken promise against him, Clinton won the 1992 presidential election with 43.0% of the vote to Bush's 37.5% and independent billionaire Ross Perot's 18.9%.

Most Republican strength traditionally lay mainly in the northwestern part of the state, particularly Fort Smith and Bentonville, as well as North Central Arkansas around the Mountain Home area. In the latter area, Republicans have been known to get 90% or more of the vote, while the rest of the state was more Democratic. After 2010, Republican strength expanded further to the Northeast and Southwest and into the Little Rock suburbs. The Democrats are mostly concentrated to central Little Rock, the Mississippi Delta, the Pine Bluff area, and the areas around the southern border with Louisiana.

Arkansas has elected only three Republicans to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction: Tim Hutchinson, who was defeated after one term by Mark Pryor; John Boozman, who defeated incumbent Blanche Lincoln; and Tom Cotton, who defeated Pryor in 2014. Before 2013, the General Assembly had not been controlled by the Republican Party since Reconstruction, with the GOP holding a 51-seat majority in the state House and a 21-seat (of 35) in the state Senate following victories in 2012. Arkansas was one of just three states among the states of the former Confederacy that sent two Democrats to the U.S. Senate (the others being Florida and Virginia) for any period during the first decade of the 21st century.

In 2010, Republicans captured three of the state's four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2012, they won election to all four House seats. Arkansas held the distinction of having a U.S. House delegation composed entirely of military veterans (Rick Crawford, Army; Tim Griffin, Army Reserve; Steve Womack, Army National Guard; Tom Cotton, Army). When Pryor was defeated in 2014, the entire congressional delegation was in GOP hands for the first time since Reconstruction.

Reflecting the state's large evangelical population, Arkansas has a strong social conservative bent. In the aftermath of the landmark Supreme Court decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Arkansas became one of nine states where abortion is banned. Under the Arkansas Constitution, Arkansas is a right to work state. Its voters passed a ban on same-sex marriage in 2004, with 75% voting yes, although that ban has been inactive since the Supreme Court protected same-sex marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges.

Arkansas retains the death penalty. Authorized methods of execution include the Electric chair.

Military
The Strategic Air Command facility of Little Rock Air Force Base was one of eighteen silos in the command of the 308th Strategic Missile Wing (308th SMW), specifically one of the nine silos within its 374th Strategic Missile Squadron (374th SMS). The squadron was responsible for Launch Complex 374–7, site of the 1980 explosion of a TitanII Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) in Damascus, Arkansas.

Taxation
Taxes are collected by the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.

Health

As of 2012, Arkansas, as with many Southern states, has a high incidence of premature death, infant mortality, cardiovascular deaths, and occupational fatalities compared to the rest of the United States. The state is tied for 43rd with New York in percentage of adults who regularly exercise. Arkansas is usually ranked as one of the least healthy states due to high obesity, smoking, and sedentary lifestyle rates, but according to a Gallup poll, Arkansas made the most immediate progress in reducing its number of uninsured residents after the Affordable Care Act passed. The percentage of uninsured in Arkansas dropped from 22.5 in 2013 to 12.4 in August 2014.

The Arkansas Clean Indoor Air Act, a statewide smoking ban excluding bars and some restaurants, went into effect in 2006.

Healthcare in Arkansas is provided by a network of hospitals as members of the Arkansas Hospital Association. Major institutions with multiple branches include Baptist Health, Community Health Systems, and HealthSouth. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock operates the UAMS Medical Center, a teaching hospital ranked as high performing nationally in cancer and nephrology. The pediatric division of UAMS Medical Center is known as Arkansas Children's Hospital, nationally ranked in pediatric cardiology and heart surgery. Together, these two institutions are the state's only Level I trauma centers.

Education

Arkansas has 1,064 state-funded kindergartens, elementary, junior and senior high schools.

The state supports a network of public universities and colleges, including two major university systems: Arkansas State University System and University of Arkansas System. The University of Arkansas, flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System in Fayetteville was ranked #63 among public schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Other public institutions include University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Arkansas Tech University, Henderson State University, Southern Arkansas University, and University of Central Arkansas across the state. It is also home to 11 private colleges and universities including Hendrix College, one of the nation's top 100 liberal arts colleges, according to U.S. News & World Report.

In the 1920s the state required all children to attend public schools. The school year was set at 131 days, although some areas were unable to meet that requirement.

Generally prohibited in the West at large, school corporal punishment is not unusual in Arkansas, with 20,083 public school students paddled at least one time, according to government data for the 2011–12 school year. The rate of corporal punishment in public schools is higher only in Mississippi.

Media

As of 2010 many Arkansas local newspapers are owned by WEHCO Media, Alabama-based Lancaster Management, Kentucky-based Paxton Media Group, Missouri-based Rust Communications, Nevada-based Stephens Media, and New York-based GateHouse Media.

Culture

The culture of Arkansas includes distinct cuisine, dialect, and traditional festivals. Sports are also very important to the culture, including football, baseball, basketball, hunting, and fishing. Perhaps the best-known aspect of Arkansas's culture is the stereotype that its citizens are shiftless hillbillies. The reputation began when early explorers characterized the state as a savage wilderness full of outlaws and thieves. The most enduring icon of Arkansas's hillbilly reputation is The Arkansas Traveller, a painted depiction of a folk tale from the 1840s. Though intended to represent the divide between rich southeastern plantation Arkansas planters and the poor northwestern hill country, the meaning was twisted to represent a Northerner lost in the Ozarks on a white horse asking a backwoods Arkansan for directions. The state also suffers from the racial stigma common to former Confederate states, with historical events such as the Little Rock Nine adding to Arkansas's enduring image.

Art and history museums display pieces of cultural value for Arkansans and tourists to enjoy. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville was visited by 604,000 people in 2012, its first year. The museum includes walking trails and educational opportunities in addition to displaying over 450 works covering five centuries of American art. Several historic town sites have been restored as Arkansas state parks, including Historic Washington State Park, Powhatan Historic State Park, and Davidsonville Historic State Park.

Arkansas features a variety of native music across the state, ranging from the blues heritage of West Memphis, Pine Bluff, Helena–West Helena to rockabilly, bluegrass, and folk music from the Ozarks. Festivals such as the King Biscuit Blues Festival and Bikes, Blues, and BBQ pay homage to the history of blues in the state. The Ozark Folk Festival in Mountain View is a celebration of Ozark culture and often features folk and bluegrass musicians. Literature set in Arkansas such as I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou and A Painted House by John Grisham describe the culture at various time periods.

Sports and recreation

Sports have become an integral part of the culture of Arkansas, and her residents enjoy participating in and spectating various events throughout the year.

Team sports and especially collegiate football are important to Arkansans. College football in Arkansas began from humble beginnings, when the University of Arkansas first fielded a team in 1894. Over the years, many Arkansans have looked to Arkansas Razorbacks football as the public image of the state. Although the University of Arkansas is based in Fayetteville, the Razorbacks have always played at least one game per season at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock in an effort to keep fan support in central and south Arkansas.

Arkansas State University became the second NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (then known as Division I-A) team in the state in 1992 after playing in lower divisions for nearly two decades. The two schools have never played each other, due to the University of Arkansas's policy of not playing intrastate games. Two other campuses of the University of Arkansas System are Division I members. The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff is a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, a league whose members all play football in the second-level Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The University of Arkansas at Little Rock, known for sports purposes as Little Rock, joined the Ohio Valley Conference in 2022 after playing in the Sun Belt Conference; unlike many other OVC members, it does not field a football program. The state's other DivisionI member is the University of Central Arkansas (UCA), which joined the ASUN Conference in 2021 after leaving the FCS Southland Conference. Because the ASUN does not plan to start FCS football competition until at least 2022, UCA football is competing in the Western Athletic Conference as part of a formal football partnership between the two leagues. Seven of Arkansas's smaller colleges play in NCAA Division II, with six in the Great American Conference and one in the Lone Star Conference. Two other small Arkansas colleges compete in NCAA Division III, in which athletic scholarships are prohibited. High school football also began to grow in Arkansas in the early 20th century.

Baseball runs deep in Arkansas and was popular before the state hosted Major League Baseball (MLB) spring training in Hot Springs from 1886 to the 1920s. Two minor league teams are based in the state. The Arkansas Travelers play at Dickey–Stephens Park in North Little Rock, and the Northwest Arkansas Naturals play in Arvest Ballpark in Springdale. Both teams compete in Double-A Central.

Hunting continues in the state. The state created the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission in 1915 to regulate hunting. Today a significant portion of Arkansas's population participates in hunting duck in the Mississippi flyway and deer across the state. Ducks Unlimited has called Stuttgart, Arkansas, "the epicenter of the duck universe". Millions of acres of public land are available for both bow and modern gun hunters.

Fishing has always been popular in Arkansas, and the sport and the state have benefited from the creation of reservoirs across the state. Following the completion of Norfork Dam, the Norfork Tailwater and the White River have become a destination for trout fishers. Several smaller retirement communities such as Bull Shoals, Hot Springs Village, and Fairfield Bay have flourished due to their position on a fishing lake. The National Park Service has preserved the Buffalo National River in its natural state and fly fishers visit it annually.

Attractions

Arkansas is home to many areas protected by the National Park System. These include:
 Arkansas Post National Memorial at Gillett
 Blanchard Springs Caverns
 Buffalo National River
 Fort Smith National Historic Site
 Hot Springs National Park
 Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
 Pea Ridge National Military Park
 President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site
 Arkansas State Capitol Building
 List of Arkansas state parks

See also
 Index of Arkansas-related articles
 Outline of Arkansas
 Spanish Empire
 History of Louisiana
 USS Arkansas, 5 ships

Notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading

 Blair, Diane D. & Jay Barth Arkansas Politics & Government: Do the People Rule? (2005)
 Deblack, Thomas A. With Fire and Sword: Arkansas, 1861–1874 (2003)
 Donovan, Timothy P. and Willard B. Gatewood Jr., eds. The Governors of Arkansas (1981)
 Dougan, Michael B. Confederate Arkansas (1982),
 Duvall, Leland. ed., Arkansas: Colony and State (1973)
 Hamilton, Peter Joseph. The Reconstruction Period (1906), full length history of era; Dunning School approach; 570 pp; ch 13 on Arkansas
 Hanson, Gerald T. and Carl H. Moneyhon. Historical Atlas of Arkansas (1992)
 Key, V. O. Southern Politics (1949)
 Kirk, John A., Redefining the Color Line: Black Activism in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1940–1970 (2002).
 McMath, Sidney S. Promises Kept (2003)
 Moore, Waddy W. ed., Arkansas in the Gilded Age, 1874–1900 (1976).
 Peirce, Neal R. The Deep South States of America: People, Politics, and Power in the Seven Deep South States (1974).
 Thompson, Brock. The Un-Natural State: Arkansas and the Queer South (2010)
 Thompson, George H. Arkansas and Reconstruction (1976)
 Whayne, Jeannie M. Arkansas Biography: A Collection of Notable Lives (2000)
 White, Lonnie J. Politics on the Southwestern Frontier: Arkansas Territory, 1819–1836 (1964)
 Williams, C. Fred. ed. A Documentary History Of Arkansas (2005)

External links

 Arkansas.gov—Official State Website
 Arkansas State Facts from USDA
 Official State tourism website
 Encyclopedia of Arkansas
 Energy & Environmental Data for Arkansas
 U.S. Census Bureau
 2000 Census of Population and Housing for Arkansas, U.S. Census Bureau
 USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Arkansas
 Arkansas Summer Camps
 Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre

 Arkansas State Code (the state statutes of Arkansas)
 Arkansas State Databases—Annotated list of searchable databases produced by Arkansas state agencies and compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association.

1836 establishments in the United States
Contiguous United States
South Central United States
Southern United States
States and territories established in 1836
States of the Confederate States of America
States of the United States

Arkansas


Arthur Heinrich Wilhelm Fitger  (4 October 184028 June 1909) was a German painter, art critic, playwright and poet.

Biography
Arthur Fitger was one of the ten children of Delmenhorst (Grand Duchy of Oldenburg) postmaster Ratsherr Peter Diedrich Fitger (born 29 February 1804, died 14 November 1865). Ratsherr was a hereditary title granted to his grandfather Heinrich Fitger and lineal male descendants (Fitger; see Salic law) since battlefield action in the Seven Years' War. Peter's wife was Clara Maria Caroline Plate (born 29 May 1815, died 18 November 1891), whose mother, Caroline (Arthur's grandmother), was raised the daughter of a Holstein Countess Reventlow on the Noer estate and married Court Counsellor Franz Plate in 1800 in Eutin. At the time of her marriage to Arthur's father, Clara Maria Caroline was widowed (Dony) with two daughters.

Arthur Fitger grew up in the grand ducal Posthaus in Delmenhorst which was also an inn which functioned as stopover for change of horses (postillions) and postal/customs exchange between Oldenburg and Bremen (part of the Thurn und Taxis network of the Holy Roman Empire).  His younger brother Emil Fitger (born 15 December 1848 in Delmenhorst, died 9 April 1917 in Bremen) was editor in chief of the Weser-Zeitung in Bremen for many years. Arthur Fitger attended the Volks- und Rektorschule in Delmenhorst and then the gymnasium in Oldenburg, where he lived at the home of Baurat Otto Lasius (1797–1888).

Painting
In 1858, Fitger went to the Akademie zu München, where he studied under Moritz von Schwind (1804–1875), Peter von Cornelius (1783–1867) and Bonaventura Genelli (1798–1868). He went to Antwerp in 1861 and then to Paris. From 1863 to 1865, he stayed in Rome, supported by a scholarship from Oldenburg's grand duke. Then he spent the following years alternately in Vienna und Berlin before moving to Bremen in 1869.

Fitger became known for his large decorative works, executed chiefly at Bremen. He decorated the Rembertikirche with two pictures:  "The lost son" and "The Merciful Samaritan." He did a frieze for the bourse with maritime allegories. His works also appeared in the Haus Seefahrt and the Reichspostgebäude. Influenced by the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, he produced the portable artwork "Barbarossa's Awakening," which spread his reputation further. In 1875, he was given the task of decorating the Ratskeller with murals. From 1883 to 1884 he painted large murals in the Kunsthalle Hamburg. After this he returned to Bremen where he painted murals of nymphs and centaurs in Imperial Hall of the new Imperial Post Office Building.

Originally painting in the style of Cornelius and Genelli, he later used colour in a more modern manner, similar to Hans Makart (1840–1884). Arthur Fitger was awarded a gold medal for his "Icarus" painting when exhibited at the 1892-1893 Chicago World's Fair (Columbian Exhibition)

Writing
Fitger was also well known for his writing. His plays, Adalbert von Bremen (Oldenburg 1873; 2nd edition with the sequel Hie Reich! Hie Rom! ["Here Empire! Here Rome!"], 1875), Die Hexe ("The witch," Oldenburg, 1878; 4th edition, 1885), Von Gottes Gnaden ("From the grace of God," 2nd edition, Oldenburg, 1884) have often been performed. He also wrote Albrecht Dürer, Johann Kepler and Michelangelo and the epic poem Roland und die Rose (1871) for the Bremer Künstlerverein. Fitger's most important written works are the poetry collections Fahrendes Volk ("Traveling people," 2nd edition, Oldenburg, 1883) und Winternächte ("Winter nights," Oldenburg, 1880). He also rendered into German (1886) Lord Byron's Marino Faliero, and for the Denkmale der Geschichte und Kunst Bremens ("Memorials of the history and art of Bremen," 1877) prepared a history of the local cathedral.

Art criticism
Fitger was regarded as an important person in art in Bremen around 1900. His art criticisms, published in the press, had a lasting influence on Hanseatic taste in art. He was chairman of the Kunstverein, and kept a conservative outlook on art. He strongly criticised artists who followed fashions that were modern at that time, including the Künstlerkolonie Worpswede and the contemporary French painters.
The most striking example of his criticism was a comment on an attempt by Marie Bock and Paula Becker to exhibit in the Kunsthalle Bremen at the end of 1899. It appeared in the Weser-Zeitung, which was edited by his brother, Emil, at the time:

which means:

However, his criticism was unable to prevent a breakthrough of the Künstlerkolonie Worpswede.

See also
 List of German painters

Notes

References
 Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4th edition from 1888 to 1890.

Further reading
 Ulrich Thieme/Felix Becker (Begr.): Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künste von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Band 12, Leipzig 1916, page 58
 Hans Friedl u.a. (Hrsg.): Biographisches Lexikon zur Geschichte des Landes Oldenburg. Oldenburg 1992, pages 194–196
 Georg von Lindern: Arthur Fitger Maler und Dichter 1840 -1909 Heimatverein Delmenhorst 1962
 Gerhard Wietek: 200 Jahre Malerei im Oldenburger Land
 Lilienthaler Kunststiftung: ...und sie malten doch!

External links

 Short biography

19th-century German painters
German male painters
20th-century German painters
20th-century German male artists
German poets
German art critics
1840 births
1909 deaths
People from Delmenhorst
German male poets
German male dramatists and playwrights
19th-century German poets
19th-century German dramatists and playwrights
19th-century German male writers
German male non-fiction writers
19th-century German male artists

Arthur Fitger


Raj Narain (23 November 1917 – 31 December 1986)  was an Indian freedom fighter and politician. He won in a famous electoral malpractice case against the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, which led to her disqualification and imposition of Emergency in India in 1975. He defeated Indira Gandhi during the 1977 Lok Sabha elections.

Early life
Raj Narain was the son of Anant Prasad Singh and was born on 23 November 1917 in an affluent Bhumihar Brahmin family in the village Motikoat in Varanasi. He was related to the Narayan dynasty, who were the royal family of the Benares State, and he was directly associated with the family of Maharaja Chet Singh and Maharaja Balwant Singh, who were the Maharajas of Benares State, over a century back. He was educated at Banaras Hindu University, and did M.A. and LL.B.

Activities during India's Freedom Movement
A Political and Social worker he organized a school for adults, a girls school, a study centre and a labour organization and became member of Congress Socialist Party, in 1934, and National Committee of Students Federation, 1939–44. He was President of the Banaras University Mandal Congress Committee and Member of District Congress Committee (D.C.C.).

He was president of Student Congress during 1942 Quit India movement, and led protests in and around Varanasi district in UP.  Initially he was "underground" for three months and later arrested on 28 September 1942, during Quit India Movement and detained till 1945.

Career after Independence
He was imprisoned 58 times for a period totaling about 15 years in connection with students' and socialist movements.

When India became independent,  Raj Narain joined Socialist Party led by Acharya Narendra Deva, Jayprakash Narayan and Dr Rammanohar Lohia and held many party positions including Secretary of UP Socialist Party, 1948–51. He was very close to his Guru Acharya Narendra Deva and Dr.Rammanohar Lohia. Dr. Lohia described him as "a person who has the heart of a Lion and practices of Gandhi". Dr. Lohia admired him a lot and even said that "if in India there could be just three or four persons like him, dictatorship can never shadow the democracy".

He was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1952 and was Leader of Opposition in the Assembly until 1962. The parties he was affiliated with included CSP (1934–48), Socialist Party (1948–52), Praja Socialist Party (1952–1955), Socialist Party (1956–64), Samyukta Socialist Party (1964–72), Socialist Party (1971–72), Socialist Party (Lohia) (1972–74), Bhartiya Lok Dal, (1974–77), Janata Party (1977–79), Janata Party (Secular) (1979–80), Democratic Socialist Party (1981–83), Janata Party (1983–84), and Socialist Party from 1984 till his death, in 1986. Party positions he held included, Member National Executive, PSP, 1954–55, Chairman, Socialist Party, 1961–64. He was also a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1966–72 and 1974–77.

Raj Narain opposed policies and practices of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and stood (against her) in 1971 Lok Sabha elections from Rai Bareli as an Samyukta Socialist Party Candidate. Although he suffered a defeat from her in 1971 elections, he accused Indira Gandhi of corrupt electoral practices and filed an election petition against her.

The Allahabad High Court on 12 June 1975 upheld the accusations and set aside the election of Indira Gandhi and also disqualified her to contest Lok Sabha election for next 6 years, which led to the imposition of Emergency in India. Nationwide protest started and the streets were flooded with people under the leadership of Loknayak Jai Prakash Narayan and Raj Narain. This was biggest drama of Indian politics after independence, with Raj Narain as one of the main protagonists.

Known as biggest critique and adversary of Indira Gandhi, upon imposition of Emergency, Raj Narain was immediately arrested and imprisoned on the same day, along with several leading opposition leaders including Jai Prakash Narayan, Morarji Desai, Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Charan Singh, L. K. Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee without any advance notice and confined mostly in undisclosed locations.

Mrs. Gandhi lifted the state of emergency in January 1977, dissolved Lok Sabha and arranged fresh elections to the body. Narain joined with other opposition parties to form the Janata alliance to face Mrs. Gandhi's Congress party. Narain once again stood against her from the Rae Bareli constituency. He defeated her with a margin of more than fifty thousand votes. The Janata alliance also swept the election throughout North India to form the majority in the parliament (Lok Sabha).

Narain reluctantly joined the Morarji Desai government and became Minister of Health and Family Welfare. Narain's stint as minister lasted just over a year when he and Charan Singh were asked to resign for criticizing the Janata government.

Later on, he demanded that Janata Party members with ties to the Hindu Nationalist, RSS renounce those ties to avoid split loyalties. When this was ignored, he resigned from the party to float a new outfit called Janata Party (Secular). He was able to attract enough defectors from the former socialist and BLD factions to make the Morarji Desai government lose a vote of confidence in the parliament and lose power. Raj Narain's performance in the 1977-1979 Janata period has been described as that of Buffoon, practitioner of Guerilla theater, and as a stalking horse for Charan Singh

Raj Narain had earlier called himself Hanuman to Charan Singh's Ram. He lost the 1980 Lok Sabha election to Kamlapati Tripathi in Varanasi. Later he fell out with his mentor Charan Singh, and Raj Narain stood against Singh in the Baghpat constituency in 1984. At this time, in his opinion, his Ram turned in to a Ravan and had to be destroyed.

Electoral history
 1971 : Lost 1971 Lok Sabha election to Indira Gandhi from Rae Bareli
 1977 : Defeated Indira Gandhi in Rae Bareli
 1980 : Lost to Kamlapati Tripathi from Varanasi seat
 1984 : Lost to Charan Singh from Baghpat seat. Congress was second in this seat.

Political associations

Congress Socialist Party (CSP), 1934–48.
Inspector of Congress Socialist Party, 1946.
District Secretary, Congress Socialist Party (SP), 1946.

Member Socialist Party (SP), 1948–52.
Secretary, Uttar Pradesh Socialist Party (SP), 1948–51.
Convener, 'Janvani Diwas' of Socialist Party in Delhi, on 9 June 1951.

Member Praja Socialist Party (PSP), 1952–1955.
Member National Executive, PSP, 1954–55.
Member, Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly and First Leader of Opposition, 1952–1962.
Member Socialist Party, 1956–64. (From 1 January 1956 to 9 June 1964) Chairman, Socialist Party, 1961–64.

Joined Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP) after the merger of PSP and SP.

Member Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP), 1964–72. (9 June 1964 to 12, April 1972)
General Secretary Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP), 1964–66.

Member Rajya Sabha, 1966–72. (For SSP)
Member Socialist Party, 1971–72. (After the merger of PSP & SSP)
Revived Socialist Party (Lohia), in 1972 and was its Member, 1972–74.
Merged SSP (Lohia) into BKD in 1974 and formed Bhartiya Lok Dal
Member Bhartiya Lok Dal (BLD), 1974–77
Member Rajya Sabha, 1974–77 (As BLD Candidate)

Formed Janata Party in 1977 after the merger of BLD, Bhartiya Jana sangh, Congress (O), Socialist Party and Congress for Democracy (CFD)
Member Janata Party, 1977–79,
Member 6th Lok Sabha, 1977–79. (Defeated Indira Gandhi in 1977)
Member Union Cabinet as Health & Family Welfare Minister. (1977–78), removed from Union Cabinet in January 1979 and later on resigned from Janata Party in 1979. *Formed Janata Party (S) as its President and later as Chairman
Joined Democratic Socialist Party, 1981–83 (With H. N. Bahuguna).
Joined Janata Party, 1983–84. With Chandra Shekhar.

Contested against former Prime Minister Charan Singh, in 1984 Lok Sabha elections from Baghpat (U.P.)
Formed Socialist Party in 1985, and was associated with this party till his death in 1986.

Personal life

Raj Narain was married and had three sons and one daughter.
Raj Narain published 'Janmukh'-a weekly from Varanasi and has been on the editorial board of 'Jan' a monthly established by Dr Rammanohar Lohia.

Legacy
A commemorative stamp was released on him by the former Vice President of India, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat on 23 March 2007.
In 2012, the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav unveiled a statue in his memory at Chandrabhanu Gupta Agriculture college which is close to the state capital Lucknow.

Books
 Towards a new health policy, by Raj Narain. 1977-8 pages. POPLINE Document Number: 783545. Author: NARAIN R. Source citation: New Delhi, India, Department of Family Welfare, www.popline.org/ docs/ 0299/ 783545.html.
 Raj Narain's Heath policy mentioned in Practicing health for all, by David Morley, Jon E. Rohde, Glen Williams. Oxford University Press, 1983 – Medical – 333 pages.
 Raj Narain's Heath policy mentioned in India: health care patterns and planning, by Rais Akhtar. 2004-343 pages. On page no.45 Raj Narain, were ideologically inclined towards de-professionalization, decentralization, and indigenous systems of medicine. The Janata party manifesto mentioned community health workers, and Raj Narain adopted it as a personal commitment (Leslie, 1985).

See also
State of Uttar Pradesh v. Raj Narain

Further reading
Apaat Kaal Ka Dhoomketu:Raj Narain. Author: Dr.Yugeshwar.
 The New Yorker: Volume 56, Issues 1–8, 1980. Although Raj Narain is married and has four children, he long ago abandoned his family for celibacy and a ... No one is ever sure whether Raj Narain is expressing a genuine belief or saying something merely to attract attention.
A family affair: India under three prime ministers.Ved Mehta – 1982 – 166 pages. The main project that Raj Narain had put forward as Janata Health Minister was a scheme to have each village select a ... Raj Narain's critics contended that his scheme would not only misappropriate meagre resources but also debase.
राज नारायण -यादों के झरोखो से -कृष्ण प्रकाश शर्मा (In Hindi)
लोकबंधु-सूर्यभान (In Hindi)
 राज नारायण का समाजवादी ब्यक्तित्व-सुप्रिया राय (In Hindi)

Footnotes

References

External links

Janata Party politicians
The Emergency (India)
Desai administration
People from Varanasi district
1917 births
1986 deaths
India MPs 1977–1979
Uttar Pradesh MLAs 1952–1957
Uttar Pradesh MLAs 1957–1962
Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh
Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh
Indian socialists
Indians imprisoned during the Emergency (India)
Prisoners and detainees of British India
Indian independence activists from Uttar Pradesh
Leaders of the Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
Politicians from Varanasi
Health ministers of India
Lok Dal politicians
Bharatiya Lok Dal politicians
Samyukta Socialist Party politicians
Janata Party (Secular) politicians

Raj Narain