More background history on the rather tragic town of Earle, Arkansas. Many Voices was a civil rights newspaper published in West Memphis from 1970-1972, covering events in the East Arkansas delta region. Earle was often mentioned in various issues of the newspaper, as there was always some kind of protest, conflict or boycott going on there. I suppose that’s what led to the downtown of empty and abandoned stores.
Rev. W. Ezra Greer
Some Background on What Happened to Earle, Arkansas
After blogging on the near-ghost-town status of Earle, Arkansas a few days ago, I did some digging online and came upon this old Federal court decision that gives some interesting details about how bad things got in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s in Earle during the civil rights movement. It doesn’t seem that Earle was particularly eager to join the modern era.