The Story of the Arkansas Gazette 1819-1991
For nearly 172 years, even before Arkansas was a state, the Arkansas Gazette served as the newspaper of record for Arkansans. Under the watch of J. N. Heiskell, who served as editor of the paper from 1902 until 1972, the Gazette became one of the most progressive and literate newspapers in America. During the charged racial climate of the 1950’s, in spite of advertising boycotts, subscription cancellations and threats of violence, the Gazette stood for law and order and decency against the segregationist administration of Orval Faubus. For that stance the Gazette won two Pultizer Prizes. Mary Steenburgen provides the voice of the lady in The Old Gray Lady – Arkansas’s First Newspaper, an artful and accurate telling of the history of a proud and progressive newspaper of a southern state.
