Arkansas now has a hall of fame just for women.
On Monday, Nan Snow, the president of the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame board, announced the names of the inaugural 11 inductees during a news conference from the steps of the state Capitol.
The contemporary honorees are Mary Ann Ritter Arnold, Betty Bumpers, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Dr. Mary Good, Johnelle Hunt, Dr. Edith Irby Jones and Alice Walton. The historic inductees are Daisy Bates, Hattie Caraway, Hester Davis and Roberta Fulbright.
A committee chose these 11 women out of 73 nominated individuals, and also chose to honor the historic Women’s Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools, the first organization to act in opposition of Gov. Orval Faubus shutting down schools in the wake of the desegregation debacle in 1957.
In Soirée’s June issue, we profiled the launch of this new organization.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson spoke at the news conference and talked about his own mother, a woman who he said had “extraordinary leadership in hard times,” and said that women “feel very comfortable leading from the front or behind; they will lead either way.”
Hutchinson emphasized that this hall of fame will provide a group of women for the younger generation to look up to.
The AWHOF will induct a new class of honorees each year. For more information, check out this article from our sister publication, Arkansas Business, or visit the hall’s official website, ARWomensHallofFame.com.