Arkansas - 1 State Anthem, 4 Total Songs Quiz

Answer:

Arkansas has a long, deep, and varied history. The first European expedition into what would become Arkansas was led by the Spaniard de Soto in 1541. By the mid-1600s, French Jesuits had made forays into the territory and by 1686, the first official permanent settlement, the Arkansas Post, was established. It folded in 1699 from lack of business.

In 1721 a Scottish land speculator stumbled upon the long abandoned post and restarted it as a full settlement. The French expanded and improved on Louisiana, introducing cotton farming and law to the area. The post remained the most important permanent settlement in what would become Arkansas, switching hands several times between the French and the Spanish.

In 1803, the Louisiana Purchase was finalized and what would become Arkansas became part of the USA. Exploration of the territory started in earnest. Arkansas was mapped, settled, and in 1836 became a state with Arkansas Post having been replaced by Little Rock as its head of government.

In 1861, Arkansas joined the Confederacy, but in a show of how contentious that decision was, 50,000 Arkansans fought for the South, with 15,000 joining the Union.

After Reconstruction, Arkansas struggled with a lack of education and infrastructure, the only bright spot being the discovery of diamonds in the state in 1906. The crash of 1929 devastated the economy and by 1931 there were less than half the businesses in the state than there had been in 1929.

WWII helped revive the economy but the state was still a hotbed of racial tension. When schools were desegrated, the state shut them all down for a year. Slowly, Arkansas opened up to the rest of the world, and by the 1990s, they had one of their own in the White House, Bill Clinton.

The story of Arkansas is a great one, no less its anthem. First written in 1916 and adopted as the state song soon after, it was pulled from its status in 1949 due to a copyright dispute. The state replaced "Arkansas" with "The Arkansas Traveler" during those years. In my humble opinion, "The Arkansas Traveler" is a far superior song to the original. It is full of humor and really deserves its own quiz. Please, go look it up if you can.

After raising funds to buy the copyright, the state restored "Arkansas" as the state song in 1963. In 1987, the Legislature elevated "Arkansas" to the title of state anthem and added "Arkansas (You Run Deep in Me)" and "Oh, Arkansas" as state songs (both written for the sesquicentennial) and restored the amazing "The Arkansas Traveler" to status of "state historical song".