July/August 2003 issue

Judge Morris Sheppard Arnold Gives Talk on Arkansas History

The Hon. Morris Sheppard Arnold, Circuit Judge for the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, recently gave a free lecture at the Main Library of Little Rock called "Exploring Arkansas Before the Louisiana Purchase." The lecture was part of a series for the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies.

Judge Arnold is well-studied in the history of Arkansas and has published books and articles on the subject: Unequal Laws Unto a Savage Race (1985); Colonial Arkansas, 1686-1804: A Social and Cultural History (1991); Rumble of a Distant Drum: The Quapaws and Old World Newcomers 1673-1804 (2000); and a chapter in Arkansas: A Narrative History, called "Indians and Immigrants in the Arkansas Colonial Era" (2002).

The free lecture discussed the French exploration of Arkansas starting in 1673. While the territory was primarily explored and ruled by France right up until the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, most people know little about this period in the state's history. Judge Arnold attributes this "to the fact that not even the slightest physical trace of colonial occupation has survived."

For more details about Judge Arnold's lecture, please see the following article published in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, French Connection: Gallic Roots of Arkansas are Explored on Louisiana Purchase's Bicentennial, Ark. Dem-Gaz. May 6, 2003.

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