Portrayal brings Northwest Arkansas city's forgotten back to life

Annual cemetery tour shifts focus

“Many people kind of just left me alone altogether. But then again there were some that I just had to avoid because I know that they meant me harm,” Charles “Chip” Cartwright says while portraying Richard Banks, who died in 1975.
“Many people kind of just left me alone altogether. But then again there were some that I just had to avoid because I know that they meant me harm,” Charles “Chip” Cartwright says while portraying Richard Banks, who died in 1975.

EUREKA SPRINGS -- Amid tiki torches, tombstones and towering pine trees, Charles "Chip" Cartwright tells the story of Richard Banks, the last black person to remain in the vicinity of this tourist town in the mid-20th century, after the spa economy collapsed during the Great Depression.

Banks built a house outside the city limits.

"I liked it there because it was quiet," said Cartwright, portraying Banks. "Another reason I liked it there was because I was uncomfortable here in Eureka Springs after sundown."

There was an element of racial danger, Cartwright told the crowd Thursday night at the Eureka Springs Cemetery.

Cartwright is one of seven actors participating in the 11th Voices From Eureka's Silent City. The walking tour is held annually in October, with locals in period dress portraying the deceased. Usually, it's the famous who are brought back to life by the actors. This year, the event focuses on those whose voices had been silenced in one way or another.

Debbie Quigley Smith, director of the event, said its subtitle this year is Silenced No More. She wrote the scripts.

"This is our major fundraiser, and it's all historically accurate," she said.

Proceeds go to the Eureka Springs Historical Museum. The cost is $15 for adults and $5 for children 12 and younger. The hourlong walking tours continue next Friday and Saturday nights.

Born in Boone County in 1913, Banks moved with his mother and aunt to the boomtown of Eureka Springs in the early 1920s, according to the brochure for the event.

Years later, Banks worked as a groundskeeper at the Joy Motel.

"I got along well, OK with some folks," said Cartwright, channelling Banks. "Many people kind of just left me alone altogether. But then again there were some that I just had to avoid because I know that they meant me harm."

Cartwright told the crowd that there are about 75 unmarked graves in the cemetery's black section, and about 400 total unmarked graves.

"There's one thing I know, on resurrection morning, God don't need no tombstone to know where we all is," he said, in his Banks impersonation.

Robert "Butch" Berry, the mayor of Eureka Springs, said he remembers Banks, who died in 1975.

"He would give us rides to school," Berry said. "He had a Model A. The school was on the top of a hill, so we usually just walked up there. He was just a real sweet person."

Berry said Banks wouldn't go into some businesses in town.

At the Hi Hat Lounge, for instance, Berry's father, while on leave from the Air Force, would ferry the occasional quart bottle of beer to Banks outside.

Berry said a few black people have moved to Eureka Springs since Banks died in 1975, but he didn't know how many. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Eureka Springs has an estimated population of nine black residents.

Randy Freeman, whose family owned the Joy Motel for about 70 years until 1999, said Banks was the only black person he knew for the first several years of his life.

"He worked for my grandfather for years and years," Freeman said. "Richard was the handyman, janitor, cleanup man, whatever he could do. I didn't think of him being black, white or purple. He was just Richard."

Freeman said the script written for Cartwright is probably an accurate portrayal of the way Banks felt.

Freeman said Banks was physically strong, known for lifting things that weighed hundreds of pounds.

"Richard had a deep, booming blast," Freeman said. "He laughed a lot. But Richard was a lonely man. He was the only black person here."

Freeman said Banks would sit alone in the balcony of a segregated movie theater downtown. During the funny parts of a movie, everyone instantly recognized his laughter booming from the rafters.

"He wouldn't go in restaurants or bars," said Freeman. "You're talking about the South in the 1960s."

Freeman said his grandfather paid for Banks' funeral. He's one of the few black people with a tombstone in the cemetery.

Cartwright, who lives at Holiday Island, 9 miles north of Eureka Springs, said someone at his church told him about the cemetery event, and he was excited to portray Banks.

Cartwright has been a trailblazer in the U.S. Forest Service. In 1979, he became the first black person to be district ranger. Nine years later, he was the first black forest supervisor, and in 1994, he became the first black regional forester.

Cartwright said he decided to become a forest ranger after watching an episode of the television show Lassie in which the collie was separated from Timmy Martin's family and badly burned during a forest fire. She was nursed back to health by forest ranger Corey Stuart and accompanied him as he performed his duties, which included fighting fires, flying airplanes and managing natural resources.

"That intrigued me, a kid from middle Virginia," Cartwright said. "And I can tell you I've done everything Corey Stewart has done. My dream was to be a forest ranger. I've lived my dream."

More information on Voices From Eureka's Silent City is available at https://bit.ly/2W29EF6.

Metro on 10/20/2019

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