The Modern-Day Company Towns of Arkansas

On a sweltering June Sunday earlier this summer, under the shade of a pavilion in Springdale, Arkansas’s Luther George Park, Alice Gachuzo-Colin launched her campaign for city council. The first Black woman ever to run for office in Springdale, Gachuzo-Colin wants to move from what she calls “old Springdale”—long dominated by white bankers, farmers, and businessmen—to “new Springdale,” a place more representative of the town’s current demographics and culture.