Arkansas Negro Boys' Industrial School

The Arkansas Negro Boys' Industrial School was a juvenile correctional facility for black male youth in Arkansas. There were two locations in 1936, one in Jefferson County[1] and one in Wrightsville[2] 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Little Rock. A fire set at the dormitory in Wrightsville killed 21 of the Black boys of the 69 who were padlocked in the room.

As of March 1959, the Wrightsville school had 69 boys aged between 14 and 17. Some of them were convicted of very minor and petty crimes; however, many others, having no criminal record, lived at the school as a refuge of sorts. The boys lived in a 1936 Works Progress Administration building described by TIME as "rickety."[3]

In the pre-dawn morning of March 5, 1959, a fire was set in the dormitory of the Wrightsville facility.[4] Police never investigated to determine who caused the fire, although it was later determined to have been set from outside sources. The doors had been locked into the dormitory, making escape nearly impossible.[5] Charley Meadows, a 16-year-old night sergeant, broke open one window, allowing for egress.[3] 48 boys managed to escape, while 21 died by burning to death. The families of the deceased said that authorities told them that 14 of the dead boys were wrapped in newspapers and deposited in an unmarked grave. Some family members were skeptical of the account the officials gave of the burial. On the 50th anniversary of the fire, the families held a press conference at the Arkansas Capitol.[5]

Segregationist Governor of Arkansas Orval Faubus asked a committee to investigate the fire. The committee concluded that the correctional facility, the State of Arkansas, and the local community held responsibility for the incident, but recommended no course of action. A KTHV report said that "somehow the story faded into the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement."[4]

The land once occupied by the unit now houses the Arkansas Department of Correction Wrightsville Unit. There are no markers there that indicate that the boys school existed or that the fire occurred.[4]

On April 25, 2019, a monument to the dead was unveiled at the Wrightsville Unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction. [6]