Bells will start ringing on the state Capitol steps, at schools, churches, libraries, college campuses and elsewhere across the state at 1 p.m. Tuesday to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Arkansas ratifying the U.S. Constitution's 13th Amendment that abolished slavery.
The Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission put together the "Let Freedom Ring" celebration as a way to observe the most significant outcome of the 1861-65 Civil War as the sesquicentennial period draws to a close this year. A bell with a broken chain as its clapper is the event's logo.
"It's enormous, the impact of that," Commissioner Chip Culpepper said of the outlawing of slavery and the timing of Arkansas' ratification of the amendment, just days after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865. "From that point forward, it's truly a watershed moment."
Congress passed the proposed amendment Jan. 31, 1865, at the urging of President Abraham Lincoln, then passed it on to the states for ratification. The Arkansas General Assembly voted April 14, 1865, to make Arkansas the 21st state to ratify the amendment and the fourth of the 11 states that had made up the Confederacy. That night, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth and died the next morning.
The 13th Amendment states: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
Final ratification of the amendment by the states was Dec. 6, 1865.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson is to ring a bell 13 times at 1 p.m. on the Capitol steps as the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission's official event, according to a news release. At the same time at locations throughout Arkansas, bells of all kinds -- including cowbells and church bells -- are also to be rung, a commission idea to make the observance more personal on local levels as well as to increase involvement and awareness of the historic event.
A commission list of registered celebrations numbered more than 60 as of Friday afternoon. Event locations can be found on the commission's website at arkansascivilwar150.com under the Events tab.
Among those participating will be Kraus Middle School in Clarksville, where Amy Blackard, the school's gifted and talented program teacher, has incorporated the event into lesson plans over the past month on the history of slavery and the modern civil-rights movement. The school also will conduct a group reading of the 13th Amendment after its bell-ringing with about 400 students to participate in the commemoration, she said.
"It's so important for our kids to remember that our country hasn't always had the freedoms we have now, and we have to continue to fight for those rights and support those rights, or we're going to lose them," Blackard said. "I've had my kids in every class reading the amendment and videoing it. The day of the sesquicentennial event we will have cowbells, and students will go outside and ring the cowbells, so it'll be good and loud."
At the Van Buren Public Library in Van Buren, library staff members and patrons will step outside for a reading of the amendment and to ring bells at 1 p.m., said library assistant Margaux Burleson, who put together the Tuesday program. The library's website says any kind of bell sound can be used. Afterward, the library will show Commemorating the Civil War in Arkansas, an AETN documentary program.
"The library has bells or people can bring their own," Burleson said. "We're excited to celebrate it and be a part of Arkansas' history. We're hoping lots of people participate as well as everybody who's here at the library."
The Central Arkansas Library System in Pulaski County is also participating. Staff members at four locations in Little Rock -- the Main Library at 100 Rock St., the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at 401 President Clinton Ave., the Sidney S. McMath Library at 2100 John Barrow Road and the Dee Brown Library at 6325 Baseline Road -- will ring bells 13 times and then read the text of the amendment.
At Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, the SAU Bell Tower is to sound off 13 times at 1 p.m., according to a news release. Preceding that, state Rep. David Fielding, D-Magnolia, will be the featured speaker at 12:30 p.m. to commemorate the amendment's ratification. The SAU Genesis Ministry Choir also is to perform.
The ringing of bells refers back to how big announcements were handled during the 1860s, said Culpepper, who headed a commission subcommittee that came up with the concept.
"In those days, how did people get together to hear the news?" he said. "Bells were rung, people assembled and the news was heard. That's why we're doing it this way."
Awareness of the unfunded observance and invitations to participate were done through the commission's website, social media, letters to county judges, and information distributed through the Arkansas State Library and schoolteacher networks, Culpepper said. As chief creative officer for Little Rock advertising agency Mangan Holcomb Partners, Culpepper said he also used the agency's contacts to distribute news releases, event information and the event logo that could be shared by anyone to help publicize the day.
"We've had a very favorable reaction from lots of communities around the state, which is what we wanted to happen," Culpepper said. "We didn't want it to just be a Little Rock event, but be events locally around the state. Personally, that's very gratifying that it's happening."
Information for this article was contributed by Chelsea Boozer of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Metro on 04/12/2015