Honor Branton
Editor, The Commercial:
On this day (Sept. 25) 66 years ago, a lawsuit by a young, Black, Pine Bluff attorney named Wiley A. Branton Sr. launched a movement that ended nationwide school segregation.
Attorney Branton profoundly affected education in a history-making way. However, many Black residents in Pine Bluff and scholars in Pine Bluff schools don’t know the name of the late attorney Wiley A. Branton Sr.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
CRT advocates say Black scholars need to know their history, yet they fail to talk about heroes like Branton. My question is this: are those pushing CRT only concerned about teaching the horrible sides of Black History to keep Black people emotionally charged? They beat and lynched Black folks.
However, people like Wiley A. Branton Sr. and many other Black folks have done great work, but they have become the best-kept secret. This is why we need a Wiley A. Branton Sr. Day in Arkansas.
The Pine Bluff Interested Citizens for Voter Registration encourages all to visit the Woodson Center Lessons at www.woodsoncenter.org where scholars learn the history of lesser-known Black Americans. Black History is American History.
Today should be “Wiley A. Branton Sr. Day” in Arkansas.
Rev. Jesse C. Turner, Executive Director,
Pine Bluff Interested Citizens for Voter Registration Inc.