j.d. eagle: fayetteville (arkansas) businessman, states' rights advocate, and segregationist

8/6/2019 J.D. Eagle: Fayetteville (Arkansas) Businessman, States' Rights Advocate, and Segregationist

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J.D. EAGLE:FAYETTEVILLE (ARKANSAS) BUSINESSMAN,

STATES' RIGHTS ADVOCATE, AND SEGREGATIONST

By Dan Durning

J.D. Eagle owned his own real estate business in Fayetteville, Arkansas from 1925until his death in 1975. He became involved in local politics in the 1940s, when hewas elected for a couple of terms as the Democratic Party's committeeman forFayetteville's Ward 1. In 1948, he switched his allegiance to the States' RightsDemocrat Party, which had nominated Strom Thurmond for president. He headedthe Washington Country branch of that party, which was strongly pro-segregationand anti-civil rights.

I can find no newspaper or magazine articles that indicate Eagle remained active inelectoral politics after the start of the early 1950s, but he did feel the need toexpress his views on states' rights and segregation when school desegregationbecame a hot issue in 1954. He did so by writing a letter to readers titled, RESEGREGATION: A Plea for States Rights and A Return to Local Self-

Government, andpurchasing space in the Northwest Arkansas Times(Fayetteville, Arkansas) for its publication. His letter was published on June 19,1954, and it was also issued as a four-page monograph. The monograph isattached to this paper.

The context of Eagles letter is crucial for understanding his motivation for writingand publishing it. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court had issued the Brownv Board of Education of Topeka decision, which ruled that the segregation ofschools was unconstitutional. Five days later, on May 22, 1954, the FayettevilleSchool Board announced plans to quickly integrate Fayetteville High School (it wasmore than ten years later before grade schools were integrated). The story ofschool integration in Fayetteville is told well by Andrew Brill in an article entitled

Brownin Fayetteville: Peaceful Southern School Desegregation in 1954, publishedin the Arkansas Historical Quarterly (Winter 2006) and in a book CivilObedience: An Oral History of School Desegregation in Fayetteville,Arkansas, edited by J. L. Adams and T. A. Black (University of Arkansas Press,1994).

As a ardent states righter and segregationist, Eagle was adamantly opposed toboth the Browndecision and Fayettevilles action to quickly integrate its highschool. He published his letter to make his argument against forced integration.

Apparently, Eagle was one of few Fayetteville residents who strongly opposed theintegration plans. According to Brill, the integration of Fayetteville High School did


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not encounter much opposition from within the city, though others living inSouthern Arkansas and elsewhere wrote to express their angry opposition.

At the time Eagle wrote his letter, he was nearly seventy years old and had beenliving in Fayetteville for around thirty years. He was born John D Eagle (the D isnot an abbreviation) on April 5, 1885 in Bellefont, Arkansas (in Boone County, justdown Highway 62 from Harrison). He was the son of J.B. and Mattie Walters Eagle.His uncle, James Phillip Eagle, had been an officer in the Confederate army and,after the Civil War, a farmer and Baptist minister; he served as Arkansas governorfrom 1889 to 1893.

J.D. Eagle attended the University of Arkansas, then returned to Bellefont, wherehe became a realtor. The 1910 census showed that he was living in Bellefont withhis parents, and a younger brother (Hugh D.) and older sister (Virginia C). Also,the 1920 census listed him as living with his parents in Bellefont working in realestate. At some point when he was living in Bellefont, Eagle married a womannamed Marie; they were divorced on December 2, 1925.In 1925, J.D. Eagle moved to Fayetteville, where he opened his own real estatefirm. The 1930 census shows him living in Fayetteville, married to Mildred R. (shewas 26 at the time; he was 44). They were divorced sometime in the 1930s, andEagle married Ruth Myers. According to his WWII registration (undated, but likelycompleted in 1940), he and Ruth lived at 24 Duncan Street in Fayetteville and hadtelephone number 616. They had a son, John Phillip, in February 1941.Eagle had a long career in real estate; his advertisements starting appearing in thelocal newspapers soon after he arrived in Fayetteville and they continued nearlyuntil his death in 1975. In 1974, he received a 50-year service citation from the

Fayetteville Board of Realtors.

During his fifty years in Fayetteville, Eagle was engaged in many civic organizationsin the city; for example, he was a Rotarian for 48 years. Also, he was a long-timemember of the local chamber of commerce. His wife, Ruth, was energeticallyinvolved in different music, arts, and social groups in Fayetteville over a long spanof time. For over three decades, she played the viola and violin at many of thecitys musical events. Both J.D. and Ruth Eagle were active members of the FirstBaptist Church.

J. D. Eagle died on July 14, 1975. He was 90 years old.


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j.d. eagle: fayetteville (arkansas) businessman, states' rights advocate, and segregationist

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