History

Like Sherlock Holmes, the fictional English detective, I have an older, smarter brother. Jack will admit he is four years older but deny that he is smarter. Nevertheless, my observation is true. Generally, this has proved to be a blessing, but at times during my childhood, I would have cringed at...
For over a decade following the Civil War, parts of Southern Missouri and North Arkansas were plagued by vigilantism in various forms directed at African Americans. In Howell County, the conflict was primarily political, and violence was limited between white citizens of the Radical Republican...
In 1963, a changing tide, or, maybe, a small hurricane rolled in with the arrival of tough-as-nails Joel Case. Coach Case, another Mizzou football letterman, had a swagger that he imparted to the team. Fans started coming to the games again. My mom said part of the reason for the increased...
I am indebted to Dave Malone for the answer to a question I posed the last issue. Two separate groups of African Americans immigrated to Howell County after the Civil War. Roughly ten years separated them, and I puzzled as to how they might be interrelated. The answer is they were not.   In...
The State Historical Society of Missouri and the St. Louis Ambassadors are teaming up to develop a bicentennial time capsule with a goal to collect items that document Missouri's past, present and future. The two organizations are asking for public participation in this project. "The time...
In last week's edition of "The Way We Were" column, in the caption to the photo of Speedo Harmon and the 1950 Bear "bantam weight" backfield, I mistakenly identified some of the players by the wrong jersey numbers. The caption should have been: Sony "Buck" Stringer (20), Junior Christopher (22),...
The current news concerning whether football will be played in colleges this fall got me to thinking about football in Willow Springs back in my day—the Fifties and Sixties. During those decades, I knew all the coaches, and either played for them or had them as teachers. The boys who suited up...
It is my impression, based on source documents I've read in the old courthouse and county records elsewhere, the non-white population of Howell County continued to diminish after the Civil War. It remained low for decades, below one percent of the total population. Negroes freed after the war did...
If I have any patience at all, it results from having lived with my grandmother, Beulah McKillip Casey, during my formative years as a child on a Shannon County farm. Grandma was born in 1899 to Civil War veteran Alexander McKillip, who by all accounts was a mild-mannered man, and his wife...
Predating Howell County, the extended Hall family arrived in the Pottersville area while it was part of Oregon County. Their life here was representative of people of color in this part of the county and the Ozarks. How African Americans were treated varied over the years, but there was always a...

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Willow Springs, MO 65793
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