‘Free Persons of Color’ of Hempstead County exhibit open

WASHINGTON – The latest exhibit at Old Washington Historic Park opened last Saturday. The exhibit is entitled “An Uneasy Freedom: ‘Free Persons of Color’ of Hempstead County. Before the Civil War, there was a large community of free people in Hempstead County and Washington. The exhibit looks at lives of 6 individuals that were free and not enslaved and how they lived their lives in Washington and Hempstead County.

In 1859, Arkansas passed a law requiring all “Free People” to leave with the threat of being place into slavery. Amazing stories. The exhibit will be up for a year. Come by and check it out. Thank you to Vernita Morgan, a relative of Stephen Dimery, who helped with his biography. Also thank you to Barbara Smith and Julian Williams with the Ethnic Minority Memorabilia Association in Washington, Arkansas, Peggy Lloyd, and Melissa Nesbitt of the Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives in Washington, Arkansas.