Statehood Day

Brooks Blevins, the Noel Boyd Professor of Ozark Studies at Missouri State University, will present a lecture about the changing image of Arkansas as part of the celebration of Statehood Day, hosted by the Washington County Historical Society.

The festivities will begin at 6 p.m. Sunday, June 15, at the historic, 100-year-old First Christian Church at 220 N. College Ave., Fayetteville. The lecture will be preceded by old time banjo music performed by Allison Williams of May Bell Music.

The lecture is certified to provide 1 hour of Arkansas history teacher professional development credit.

Professor Blevins is author of Arkansas/Arkansaw: How Bear Hunters, Hillbillies, and Good Ol’ Boys Defined a State, published by the University of Arkansas Press. The book looks at the two sides of the Arkansas coin, a place that produces cultural icons such as J. William Fulbright, Johnny Cash, Bill Clinton, Mary Steenburgen and Brooks Robinson, and yet a place more often known for its hillbillies, rednecks and moonshine.

Blevins will discuss this duality — the favorable impressions of Arkansas and the unflattering, as part of Statehood Day — a celebration of 177th anniversary of Arkansas statehood, which occurred on June 15, 1836.

Williams in an internationally renowned performer and a native of the Ozarks. She continues to tour and record, creating new material and offering “brilliant interpretations” of classic pieces, as Bluegrass Unlimited put it.

For more information, contact the Washington County Historical Society at [email protected] or by calling 479-521-2970.