1990 Spring

Women in Arkansas

Historians often talk — and sometimes argue — among themselves about the writing of history. For about fifteen years now, one of those debates has been about the role of women in history. For a long time, history was written as if the only things that counted were the activities of men. Women, if they were mentioned at all, appeared only as wives and mothers. It does not diminish the importance of wives and mothers to point out that women have always been about half the human race and have done things of importance in their own right. Historians are beginning to recognize that. Arkansas now has a statewide Women’s History Institute, and many of the state’s universities have women’s studies programs. This issue of The Arkansas News, one of its topical issues, is devoted to women in Arkansas history. One of our goals is to show the variety of things women have done. Actually, as always, our real goal is to make you think.