BAD Times

By Kendall Curlee

Following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, Black students at the University of Arkansas formed the Black Americans for Democracy and launched the BAD Times newspaper when the Traveler failed to deliver fair coverage. This fall, Charles Robinson, provost and professor of history, is revisiting that era by bringing Black activists — past and present — to campus to participate in his Honors College Forum BAD Times.

“That’s what I’m most excited about,” Charles Robinson said. “The people who were actors in this history can address living through those times and provide important context for students.”

Speakers include:

• George McGill, businessman, consultant and mayor, Fort Smith
• Gerald Jordan, veteran journalist and professor of journalism, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
• Gene McKissic, attorney, Pine Bluff
• Lonnie Williams, associate vice chancellor for student affairs, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro
• David Davies, associate vice chancellor for finance and administration, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
• Angela Mosley-Monts, assistant vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
• Merlin Augustine, retired vice chancellor for finance and administration, University of Arkansas, and founder of the M&N Augustine foundation
• Jailyn Mason, senior photojournalism major and Lady Razorback who kneeled in protest
• Tyrah Jackson, junior criminology major and leader of the Black Caucus

The fact that the BAD activists moved on to distinguished careers is no accident, Robinson said: “The university had serious challenges relative to inclusion, and many of the students who endured the experience attested to it having an impact on their professional successes.”

Although the course focuses on the 1960s and ’70s, Robinson provided context by presenting a lecture on the 1919 Elaine Massacre in Phillips County, Arkansas, possibly the bloodiest racial conflict in the history of the United States.

“It’s important to know where we’ve come from, even before the ’60s,” Robinson said. He will also consider the question of continuity and change, comparing the unrest of the past to more recent protests, and bringing in current Black student leaders.

“That’s the question for this course — what’s similar, and what’s different? It’s not good enough just to know what happened then,” Robinson emphasized. “What are the lessons learned from the ’60s and ’70s, and how are they relevant today?”

View recordings of lectures at honorscollege.uark.edu/bad-times.