Special to the Saline River Chronicle –
The Month of March is dedicated to Women In History, and 2023 the focus is ever closer to the Women who have served in the Arkansas Legislature.
A well-known, political, and academic couple in Fayetteville, Dr. Stephen and Lindsley Armstrong Smith, have just published a truly outstanding book: “Stateswomen: A Centennial History of Arkansas Women Legislators, 1922-2022.”
The book is published by the University of Arkansas Press on the flagship campus in Fayetteville. The book pays tribute to the 146 women who have served in the Arkansas state House and the Arkansas State Senate.
Bradley County has three such women who have served in the state House.
Each of the three are profiled in their book and for the next three weeks, each of these outstanding women, Nellie B. Mack, Joyce Dees, and Marian Owens Ingram will be profiled here in the Saline River Chronicle from their resumes found in the book.
The book commemorates the last century 1922-to-2022 and the146 women serving in the state Legislature.
This book’s informational biographical format achieved its goal of giving everyone represented more than a commodity of dignity, respect, and admiration for their time of public service.
The Smiths, as a couple, are certainly no strangers to the mechanization and machinations of the Arkansas legislature, both having served in the state House.
Stephen A. Smith, elected in 1971, was one of the youngest men ever to serve from Madison County. He stayed two terms and left 1974 to help Gov. Bill Clinton implemented various programs all the way from the Arkansas State Capitol to the White House.
Later, his wife, Lindsley Armstrong Smith, a Louisiana native, was a bombastic and enthusiastic member of the Arkansas House from 2005-2010.
There is not a better pair of writers/researchers/editors for this book of such a historical and political undertaking, especially focused on women’s issues and free speech.
Former and current House and Senate members, on both sides of the political divide, now, or in the past, cannot find flaw to this wonderful, hefty tome on those who have served.
There is an intriguing forward, penned by UA Political Scientist, Dr. Janine A., Parry, setting the political landscape for many of these “game changers,” mentioned in the book.
Smith & Smith, in a long but informative 96-page introduction, aided with classic photographs of many of the “glass ceiling breakers,” defines the crux of this fine volume. The introduction takes shape in relating the role of women in Arkansas politics alongside the “long history of resistance to a full citizenship right for women.”
The introduction, itself, is well worth the price of the book and is certainly through evoking reading and discussion worthy of book clubs, political gatherings and yes, education of a younger generation of Arkansas’s girls and women.
It should be required reading for anyone of all sexes desiring to embark on seeing political office or a career in public service.
Two very eye-opening maps of the Arkansas counties where women have served in the legislature are featured. There are indeed areas of our state where women have blazed a bright political trail and where others have followed.
And indeed, there are dark corridors where resistance to female candidates is too clearly marked as being tough on female politicians.
Next Week: An early legislative pioneer from Bradley County: Nellie B. Mack.