A former slave founded and fashioned Blackville, Arkansas, located in the Northeast section of the state.When he died in c. 1955, his land stretched twenty-one miles, and his assets, which included a cotton gin, rice and grain silos, and a small fleet of airplanes, valued in the millions of dollars.The work and legacy of Pickens William Black Sr. and the history of Blackville are just beginning to emerge.

Blackville, Arkansas, was once a thriving all-Black self-sufficient agrarian settlement in Northeast Arkansas founded by a former slave named Pickens William Black Sr. At her zenith Blackville had a school, meat packing house, two churches, a mercantile store, a cotton gin, grain silos, flatbed trucks, at least forty tractors, several combines, other commercial farming equipment, and a small fleet of airplanes, all owned by the Black family. The major crops were cotton, rice, and soybeans. Blackville served as the trading center for many of the smaller communities in the area. When the former slave died c. 1955, his land stretched over twenty miles, the Black enterprise was worth millions of dollars and was the largest commercial farming industry in the region, and possibly in all the Eastern Delta of Arkansas. This volume is a compilation of stories from the last generation to grow up in Blackville or to have been associated with the settlement. The storytellers have provided a rare heartwarming glimpse of the extinct community.

The takeoffs and landings of airplanes from the 1940s until around 1970 were so commonplace in Blackville that residents in the all-Black settlement paid little mind to the roar of the engines….Many may believe such a place could only exist in fantasy or fiction. How else could so few people have heard of the former slave Pickens W. Black Sr. and the pilot Pickens W. Black Jr. and Blackville, Arkansas, the remarkable haven for Americans of African descent? This book offers a treasure trove of first-person narratives. These stories are a vital excavation, reconstruction, and vivification of a long-neglected part of American history. Participants in Blackville, Arkansas, Fashioned By A Former Slave share their joy and pride and fill in crucial facts about the everyday lives, struggles, and triumphs of Black Arkansans. –Priscilla Ann Brown, Ph.D.

Wally G. Vaughn was born and reared in Sumter, South Carolina. He was commissioned a First Lieutenant in the United States Air Force in January 1982 to serve as a Chaplain, endorsed by the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. He retired from active duty on January 31, 2011, in the grade of Colonel. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree, (History Education), Virginia Union University, Richmond, Virginia, 1976; Master of Divinity Degree, School of Theology Virginia Union, 1980; Master of Theology Degree, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey; 1992; Doctor of Ministry Degree, United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio, 2001. His military education: Squadron Officer School, 1988; Air Command and Staff College, 1997; and Air War College, 1999. He is a LIFE MEMBER of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (Gamma Chapter 1975). His publications include the groundbreaking works The Invisible Leader In Montgomery 1955-1956, The Montgomery Bus Protests, 1955-1956: Strategic Planning of the Highest Order, The Selma Campaign, 1963-1965: The Decisive Battle of the Civil Rights Movement and Juneteenth Researchers Incorrect About Slaves In Texas.

Carolyn Ann Butler Cooley is a native of Truxno, Union Parish, Louisiana, and is the youngest of nine children born to the late Eddie Butler and Ruby Willie Mae Chatman Butler. She grew up feeding hay to cows, milking cows, churning milk to make butter, feeding the other farm animals, and drawing water from a well, all until graduating from high school. After graduating from Farmerville High School in 1974, she studied at Louisiana Tech University for two years. Carolyn relocated to Little Rock, Arkansas, studied at Shorter College and Arkansas Baptist College, and completed her education at Philander Smith College, graduating in 1983. She is the widow of Dr. James F. Cooley, whose work initiated The Movement in Forrest City, Arkansas, in the 1960s. To their union two sons were born, Stephen and Stetson. Carolyn has one grandson, Sa’Vion.