News

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Ryan Anderson

June 12, 2023

An area near the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum in northeast Arkansas is going to get a bit of a touch-up.

Workers will renovate grain bins across from the museum in Tyronza, work that would restore the historic character of the Tyronza Commercial Historic District.

The Arkansas State University board of trustees approved the renovation project at a meeting Thursday in Beebe.

“The grain bins will serve as a large-scale exhibit of agricultural history and methods that would add new depth to the interpretation of the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum,” according to the Arkansas State University System. The interior of the largest grain bin would house critical visitor services, including accessible restroom facilities.

ASU received a grant of $1,916,383 from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council, which will cover the renovation, according to the ASU System.

The museum — which has exhibits that focus on the farm labor movement in the South and the tenant farming and sharecropping system of agriculture — opened in 2006 in the historic Mitchell-East Building in Tyronza.

JONESBORO — Southern Tenant Farmers Museum (STFM) officials will host a celebration honoring the 15th anniversary of the center, Wednesday, Oct. 6. The event is from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at the STFM, 117 S. Main Street, Tyronza.

The Southern Tenant Farmers Museum is a part of the Arkansas Heritage Sites of Arkansas State University.

“I am looking forward to the celebration of our 15th anniversary,” said Heritage Sites executive director Dr. Adam Long. “We have several new components to the museum. Oral histories are now available on surface tablets placed throughout the museum and exhibit panels containing our original content have been updated.”

Several events are planned, including live entertainment by Charley Sandage. Sandage grew up in rural Hot Spring County, Arkansas. After undergraduate work at Henderson State, a hitch in the U.S. Army, and two graduate study stints at UA-Fayetteville, he went to a career mainly in teaching and administration at several Arkansas public schools, colleges and universities. Exceptions included time at AETN and on staff at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View when it first opened.

Retirement afforded him time to expand on a 25-year old project called “Arkansas Stories,” based on original songs about people and events in Arkansas history. Long-form projects currently growing out of that interest include two musicals, one historical novel, and a concept for programming at A-State’s STFM.

Free tours will be available during this time along with a lunch of soup beans, cornbread, and cobbler provided by Armor Bank of Tyronza. Recent renovations of the museum were made possible by a private donor. 

Museum director Penny Toombs added, “One of our additions is a timeline.  This digital program provides guests with the history of the Mississippi Delta, beginning with the 1500s. New additions also include artist renditions of farm tools, a front facade of a tenant farming house, and space for traveling exhibits. I hope people come out on Oct. 6 to see the renovations, have lunch, and enjoy the music of Mr. Sandage.” 

The Southern Tenant Farmers Museum was the second A-State Heritage Site to open, in 2006. The museum enhances knowledge and understanding of tenant farming and agricultural labor movements in the Mississippi River Delta. The museum is located in the historic Mitchell-East Building in Tyronza, with the restoration of the building and development of the museum made possible through grants from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council and a “We the People” Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Heritage Studies Ph.D. program at Arkansas State utilizes the sites for opportunities for research, independent study, practicums, field work and hands-on experience for students. In addition to the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum, other Heritage Sites include Historic Dyess Colony: Johnny Cash Boyhood Home, Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center, and Lakeport Plantation. 

We are so happy and honored to announce that Southern Tenant Farmers Museum has been accepted into the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience! This global network of museums, historical sites and memorial initiatives includes some of the leading institutions maintaining sites of civil and human rights history, including the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and the first Coalition member in Arkansas, the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site.

For more information, see our A-State news article at:
http://www.astate.edu/news/southern-tenant-farmers-museum-joins-global-association

04/19/2017

JONESBORO – People traveling on I-555 through Tyronza now know there is a first-class attraction to visit at Exit 8.  Highway signs pointing the way to the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum made their appearance on Wednesday, April 12.

Thanks to the long-term efforts of State Rep. Dwight Tosh and Arkansas Highway Commissioner Alec Farmer, along with additional financial support from First Delta Bank, Ritter Communications, and the City of Tyronza, funds were contributed to produce, install and maintain the signs along both sides of the interstate and at the exit ramps. 

Travelers can take a break from driving between Jonesboro and Memphis and learn about an important part of Arkansas and U.S. history.   The Southern Tenant Farmers Museum preserves the legacy of tenant farming, sharecropping and agricultural labor movements in the Mississippi River Delta. 

The nation’s first agricultural union involving black and white farmers in the same organization, along with women in leadership positions, was established in Tyronza in 1934.  The museum is located at 117 S. Main Street in Tyronza, in the building that once served as informal headquarters for the union.

The Southern Tenant Farmers Museum, which opened in October 2006, is an Arkansas State University Heritage Site. 

The 16th annual Delta Awards, recognizing tourism achievement in Eastern Arkansas, were presented last Friday during festivities at the Brinkley Convention Center. The Tour duh Sunken Lands, a cultural bike ride that brings participants to several attractions in Poinsett and Mississippi Counties each year, won the Boot Strap award.

Put on in November by the Sunken Lands Chamber of Commerce, the Tour duh Sunken Lands is an annual 52-mile touring/cycling event highlighting cultural sites in the Sunken Lands in Northeast Arkansas. Stops include the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum at Tyronza, Dyess Colony Museum and Johnny Cash Boyhood Home at Dyess, Rivervale Tunnels, the Painted House at Lepanto, and the Marked Tree Delta Area Museum with an after-ride meal at Tyboogie’s Cafe at Tyronza. Hot soup is served at the Painted House, and drinks and snacks are served at all other stops. The chamber began the bike ride in 2009 as a way to include the Sunken Lands’ many cultural sites in a yearly event.

“It was such an honor for the Tour duh Sunken Lands to win this award,” said Sunken Lands chamber member Linda Hinton. “This ride has grown over the past seven years, and it is because of the wonderful workers and volunteers. We have had riders from Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois, Mississippi, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Missouri. The Sunken Land Regional Chamber members have created this touring ride as a way to focus on our local cultural heritage as well as giving the riders a good dose of Delta hospitality!”

This year’s ride will be on Saturday, Nov. 5. For more information about registering for the ride, visit www.facebook.com/tourduhsunkenlands or www.sunkenlands.com.

First published here.

The December 2014 Pack & Paddle newsletter is now available for view. The newsletter includes an article by Janet Nye on the recent Ozark Society Delta Biking Tour. Pack & Paddle – Winter 2014

In the Poinsett County Democrat Tribune article, “Southern Tenant Farmers Union to Celebrate 80th Anniversary,” the celebration of the eightieth anniversary of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union is discussed. In celebration of the anniversary, the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum and Arkansas State University Heritage Studies are hosting a talk by Dr. Michael Honey, the author of the book Sharecroppers Troubadour: John L. Handcox, the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, and the African American Song Tradition. The program will be held at the Arkansas State University Student Union in the Spring River room on September 29, at 10 a.m. A book signing/reading will follow at 2 p.m. on the third floor of the Arkansas State University library. Both events are free and open to the public. For more information, please see the full article here.