Blog
By Angel Burt – Bentonville, Ark. – The Momentary, part of the Crystal Bridges Museum of America Art in Bentonville, recently held a private tour of the new Awol Erizku: Mystic Parallax exhibition attended by Arkansas Black Vitality. The five-month showcase initially kicked off on May 25 with a concert by R&B artist John Legend. […]
The Good Stuff By Dwain Hebda — The first time Harvey Williams showed his family the downtown Helena storefront where his vision for the distillery Delta Dirt was to be realized, he got a couple of sideways glances. Even today, as the stylish tasting room and production facility gleams on one corner of Helena, the […]
Local viewing ceremony at Little Rock’s Second Baptist Church By Arkansas Black Vitality Staff – Daisy Gatson Bates will soon get her due recognition at the U.S. Capitol, next to Rosa Parks. On Wednesday, May 8, Bates will become the 13th woman represented in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol in […]
By Wesley Brown and Angel Burt — Team “Ella the Banker” seeks to build family legacy with nationwide launch of children’s book on financial literacy The first time you get to meet Team “Ella the Banker,” you get the sense you are witnessing if something pretty big. Ten-year-old Liam Sprinkle and his mom, Shamim Okolloh, […]
The Big Aristotle, one of the creative nicknames associated with basketball great and NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, is putting his moniker and star power behind the newest fast-food restaurant in Northwest Arkansas. Big Chicken, the star-powered chicken restaurant concept founded by O’Neal, announced the opening of its newest location in downtown Fayetteville on […]
Under the leadership of its 45th president, Shorter College is experiencing an unprecedented renaissance that rejuvenates the two-year technical school’s campus and the surrounding urban neighborhood. Founded in 1886 by the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, Shorter is the nation’s only private, two-year HBCU. That partnership with the AME church was highlighted on Feb. 9 […]
By De’Stani Clark — The PBS team began with a quest to explore the architectural wonders of Taborian Hall. However, as the cameras started rolling, the narrative took an unexpected turn. For decades, Little Rock’s West Ninth Street was the heart of the city’s African American community, home to businesses, schools and fraternal organizations. The […]
By Dwain Hebda — Marcus Guinn, executive vice president and loan manager at Arvest Bank, is one of central Arkansas’s most respected and well-known bankers. Over a nearly 40-year career, the native of Gurdon has steadily created a solid reputation as he climbed the ranks through changing times, consolidation and mergers. He’s shuffled loan papers […]
By Wesley Brown — What do Jay Z, highly acclaimed British actor David Oyelowo, a new exhibit at the Arkansas State Capital, and the recently opened U.S. Marshalls Museum (USMM) in Fort Smith all have in common? They all bring newfound attention to the exploits and legend of the late Arkansas U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves, […]
By the Arkansas Black Vitality Staff LITTLE ROCK – May 12, 2026 – Inflation is heating up again across the country — and Arkansas families are feeling the burn at the gas pump more than most. New federal data released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show that consumer prices rose 0.6% […]
By Leah Patterson, Rooted Resilience Strategies We’ve built an entire culture around supporting entrepreneurs. And yet still so many of them are exhausted. We tell them to push through, but we rarely stop to ask whether the systems that exist to support them are actually built to do that. Yes, it takes a certain drive […]
By Arkansas Black Vitality Staff May 1, 2026 – Pump prices in Arkansas are looking to breach the $4 per gallon mark in the coming weeks as oil prices surge above $100 per barrel with no indication of when the Strait of Hormuz will reopen, experts say. And with the traditional summer driving season only weeks away ahead […]
By Jeremy Hill, Arkansas Black Vitality Guest Columnist April 26, 2026 – It’s no secret that for far too long, our educator workforce has not reflected the diversity of our students. According to the Pew Research Center, only about 6–7% of teachers nationwide are Black. Of those, less than 2% are Black men. Here in […]
