Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 04/03/19
Summary
The Murphy-Jeffries Building, at 2901-2903 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive was built in c. 1925 by J. F. and Ethel Murphy.The building was to serve for a short time as their home and grocery business.The building would be home to various enterprises and families for several decades before being purchased by Mr. Andrew Jeffries, an African-American realtor and bail bondsman who was an important leading professional in the local community.The Murphy-Jeffries Building is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion A, with local significance, for its association with the history of community development, economic, and social history of Little Rock’s African-American community from the early 1960s through the 1970s.The Murphy-Jeffries Building is also being nominated Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion B, with local significance, for its association with Andrew Jeffries, owner of A. Jeffries Realty and Bail Bond Company and one of the first African-American realtors in central Arkansas, and the first African American bail bondsman in the state of Arkansas.The building is also being nominated for its association with Christopher C. Mercer, Jr., an attorney known for his work to support the Little Rock Nine and Mrs. Daisy Bates during the Central High Desegregation Crisis, his civil rights leadership, and his long career in the legal profession.
Elaboration
As early as 1912, a large wood-framed house sat on the property at 2901 High Street.As described in local newspaper advertisements it was for sale in 1912:“$3,000 - No. 2901 High street, seven-room residence, containing bath, hot and cold water; sewer; located on paved street and car line.”[1]The house also appears on local Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from 1913.This large house would have been a landmark along the southern section of High Street and was located along the early streetcar lines of Little Rock, a major transportation network in the city during the early 20th century, before the rise of the automobile as the most prominent form of transportation.Also, as seen in a surviving photo of the large original residential structure on the lot, the house was designed to take advantage of the prominent corner lot with the house facing the corner with a large first floor porch overlooking the corner.
The house was listed for sale in local newspapers in 1918, 1919, and again in 1920.[2]In 1918, a photograph of the large house appeared alongside an advertisement for its sale.[3]The Henderson family purchased the house sometime around 1920 with Fred Henderson living in the home after his mother’s death in 1921.[4]Fred Henderson’s father had passed away several years before.Mr. Fred Henderson continued to live in the home until c. 1925, the last time his name was noted in local city directories.
In c. 1925, John F. and Ethel Murphy built a two story commercial and residential building along High Street where they would run a small neighborhood grocery.John F. Murphy was born in c. 1878 and married Ethel May Sharp in Clark County in 1901.[5]By 1910, the couple was living on a farm in Miller County with two children, 7 year old John “Fred” Jr., and 1 ½ year old daughter Mildred.By 1920, the couple had moved to Little Rock where John Murphy, Sr., worked at a grocery business.In the 1926 Little Rock city directory, a new commercial business is noted at 2901 High Street and a new commercial address is noted at 2903 High Street, both with ½ addresses indicating residential spaces above the ground floor commercial spaces.[6]The commercial space at 2901 High Street was noted as the J. F. Murphy Grocery while the apartments upstairs were home to the Murphy family, including John F. Murphy and his wife Ethel and their son Fred Murphy, Jr., and his wife Gladys.Also, the 2903 commercial space was home to the High Street Pharmacy where Mrs. Ethel Murphy also worked as a clerk.
The area around the Murphy-Jeffries Building was known by the mid-20th century as the South End neighborhood of Little Rock.It was also alternately known as the High Street area.The area known as South End today is roughly bounded by Woodrow Street, Fourche Creek, Roosevelt Road, and Rock Street.During the earliest decades of the 20th century, this area developed as the residential neighborhoods of Little Rock continued to stretch to the south, east, and west of the original city grid along the Arkansas River.As evidenced by early census records, this area was mostly home to white families.By the 1950s, the South End had become a distinct African-American community.[7] The Murphy-Jeffries Building was built by the white Murphy family in a block that had become a small commercial area by 1939.To the south of this building, between 29th and 30th streets, there were several small-scale commercial structures that had been built during the 1910s and 1920s.As seen in Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for the area, by 1939 there were seven storefronts, including the two in the Murphy-Jeffries Building along this one block.There was only one other store building within several blocks of this section of High Street in any direction.Also by 1939, the original path of 29th street, which was planned to run alongside the property, was abandoned with the street disappearing between Ringo Street to the east to Wolfe Street to the west.This was due in large part to terrain changes and changes in the street grid as new city additions were added.The abandonment of 29th Street resulted in Mr. Murphy’s new building no longer being located on a corner lot, although the area of the original street now serves as an alley and access for the parking lot for the church which is located just to the north.Throughout the 1940s, this block continued to stand as the only small hub of commercial storefronts for several blocks in any direction.This small commercial hub also had an important link to the rest of the city to the north through the streetcar line that ran along High Street, terminating not far to the south of this block.
After just a few years, the Murphy family sold the building, possibly as two separate properties based on the two separate storefronts.The Murphy family then moved into a home at 2000 N. Harrison Street where in the 1930 census John F. Murphy was listed as retired from the grocery business.From 1930 through 1951, the storefront at 2901 was used for a succession of grocery stores while the other storefront at 2903 remained vacant for several years. [8] The 2903 storefront was converted to residential use by 1951.As seen in city directories from the time period the two upstairs apartments were leased to a variety of families including the Lusby, Adams, Blount, Flake, Reed, and McCarty families.For a short period in the late 1930s, the Adams and Blount families, who were related by marriage, lived in the apartment at 2901½.Mr. James Ely Blount, who lived in the building for at least a few months, was an architect who practiced for several years in the city and also worked as a contractor or builder with his brother Andrew Blount.[9]Also, it appears that this is the same Ely Blount who lived for several years during the 1910s in Tucson, Arizona, and designed several impressive buildings in that city, including the 1910 Temple Emanu-El, also known as the Stone Avenue Temple (Barrio Libre Historic District, NR Listed 10.18.1978) and may have worked for a time with architect Henry Jaastad.[10]
In 1954, an upholstery and furniture business moved into the storefront at 2901 High Street.By 1956, the 2901 storefront was being used by a small supermarket and then a Radio and TV service business.By the 1960s, the ownership of the building had changed multiple times.In 1963, Andrew Jeffries took over ownership of the building and opened his realty and bail bonds business in the space at 2901 High Street.The rest of the building continued to be leased out as apartments and a secondary first floor commercial space in later years.In the 1980s, under the leaderships of Annie Mable McDaniel Abrams, a campaign was started to rename High Street after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.[11]After years of campaigning and petitioning the city, the street was renamed and dedicated in 1992.Today the Murphy-Jeffries building survives as the only commercial structure in what was once a small neighborhood commercial hub along the streetcar line in southern Little Rock.
Mr. Andrew Jeffries
The later history of the Murphy-Jeffries Building is closely associated with Mr. Andrew Jeffries who overcame racial segregation and bias to succeed in a career as a realtor, bondsman, property manager, insurance broker, and community leader.Andrew Jeffries was the youngest of three children born to Henderson and Virginia Davis Jeffries on Baucum Plantation in Scott, Arkansas, June 6, 1920.[12]In 1923, the family moved to "Tie Plant" a subdivision in North Little Rock, Arkansas.Jeffries’ mother abandoned the family when he was only three years old. His father struggled to feed, clothe, house, and nurture the family but could barely keep a job.While living in North Little Rock, the family suffered as a result of this.At the age of 14, Mr. Jeffries started a grass cutting business in his neighborhood. It was at this early age he displayed acute business acumen: he charged one dollar and paid other boys in the neighborhood five cents to do the work.[13]As expressed to his family later in his life, he stated that by the age of sixteen, Jeffries discovered that if he saved his lunch coins, a week at a time, he could sell them to other children for a small fee so they could eat.
In 1939, Andrew Jeffries enlisted in the United States Army for two years. By 1941, he was an employee of Swift Packing Co. in Little Rock, Arkansas. He married Helen Juanita Williams in 1942. Finding the unskilled labor of dipping meat in a washing vat and hanging it on meat hooks in a smoke house unrewarding and low-paying, he re-enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1945 to support his growing family and served 2 ½ additional years. He did a tour of duty in Honolulu, returned to Little Rock in 1947, and obtained his high school diploma from Dunbar High School that same year. He went on to receive his Associate Degree from Dunbar Junior College and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Philander Smith College in five years while supporting his growing family.In 1947, he started as a Letter Carrier for the United States Postal Service.His route included the East End of Little Rock.Andrew Jeffries remained with the Postal Service for 25 years while sometimes working as many as three separate jobs to provide for his family.One of these jobs would become his main career later in life.
From 1951 until 1959, Jeffries was employed as the first African-American realty agent for Block Realty Company in Little Rock.[14]The hiring of an African-American agent for the company was remarkable at the time.As seen in a March 2, 1965, Arkansas Gazette real estate advertisement, the segregated realty practices of that era were deeply entrenched: there is a section titled “Colored Property, Sale.”The advertisement shows Jeffries Realty and Block Realty as just a few realtors who offered homes for sale to African-American buyers.In many cases, property sales were not as publicly noted as segregated, relying rather on coded language in advertisements and neighborhood knowledge to perpetuate racial lines throughout the city. [15] The Block Company was owned by three brothers:Raymond, Sr., Samuel, and Lewis Block, Sr.Although the original Block brothers hired Mr. Jeffries, it was Raymond Block, Jr., who formed a special relationship with him. Block, Jr., born in 1918, was two years Jeffries’ senior. According to Block, Jr.’s, son Glenn, and Kenneth “Muskie” Harris, who became the third African-American realtor hired by the company, the Blocks assisted Andrew Jeffries in becoming one of the first independent African-American realtors in Arkansas.[16]
In the late 1950s,Jeffries was dismissed from Block Realty when he sold a home to an African-American family in a white neighborhood, defying tradition and local real estate rules.[17]Reportedly, the Block brothers had great respect for Jeffries, but due to the Arkansas Real Estate Commission regulations, they had to fire him.[18]This event was later specifically noted in lawsuits regarding desegregation in the Little Rock School District during the 1970s and 1980s:
35. Mr. Andrew Jeffries, a black real estate broker, violated a policy of his employer by selling a home to a black in an area which had not previously been occupied by blacks. (T. 148) This same sale also violated an Arkansas Real Estate Commission regulation …which provided that "a realtor should never be instrumental in introducing into a neighborhood a character of property or occupancy, members of any race or nationality, or any individuals whose presence will clearly be detrimental to property values in that neighborhood." (PX 50-A, Article 34 of the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Real Estate Boards) Mr. Jeffries' sale was reported by his employer to the Arkansas Real Estate Commission whereupon he was advised that this "misconduct" might prevent him from receiving his real estate license. He did receive his license but was forced to resign his employment by his employer.[19]
According to the Jeffries family, it was at this time that Raymond Block, Jr., encouraged Jeffries to start his own real estate company in the city. The two remained friends and associates for the rest of their lives, with Raymond Block, Jr., and his wife, Velma, even attending the Jeffries’ 50th anniversary party in 1992.
From 1960 to 1962, Mr. Jeffries operated his real estate business out of the family home at 1522 West 21st street.In 1962, The State of Arkansas Insurance Department issued license #27903 to Jeffries in order to engage in the business of Insurance as a "Resident Broker" in the capacity of Multiple Lines: Property, Casualty, Surety and Marine, effective July 18, 1963.[20] Jeffries bought and remodeled the Murphy building at 2901-2903 High Street that same year.Before purchasing the building, Jeffries had already become a member of the Arkansas Association of Realtist.His office became an incubator for licensed African American agents starting out in the field of real estate.
The National Association of Real Estate Brokers, Inc., was founded in 1947 as an advocacy group for African-American real estate professionals and communities across the United States.The local Arkansas chapter of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, known as the Arkansas Association of Realtists, was instrumental in helping to open access for minority families to take advantage of local real estate opportunities.[21]This chapter also worked to allow local African-American owned brokerage firms to participate in the various Urban Renewal programs that were undertaken throughout many African-American majority neighborhoods.According to the online history of the local Arkansas chapter of this organization, Barnet Mays of B.G. Mays Realty, Inc., was the first independent African-American realtor in Little Rock in 1959.Mr. Jeffries was definitely one of the earliest African-American realtors practicing in the city, with one of the largest real estate firms prior to 1959.Mr. Jeffries was also one of the original members of this local Realist organization.
In 1970, Mr. Jeffries expanded his business in the area of bail bond making him the first African American bail bondsmen in the state of Arkansas.Thus, the business was renamed ‘A. Jeffries Realty and Bail Bond Co.’.Over the years, Mr. Jeffries was actively involved and recognized by several civic organizations and the media including the NAACP, the Urban League, the City of North Little Rock, the Governor of Arkansas, and the National Association of Real Estate Brokers for his contributions to the real estate profession as well as the civic life of central Arkansas’s African-American communities.Mr. Jeffries used his office as a place of business, but also as a teaching tool in his efforts to mentor young realtors and professionals in the African-American community.Mr. Jeffries was also featured in a photograph in JET magazine in January of 1993 when he served as the bail bondsman for Kevin Elders, son of the first African-American Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, who was arrested in Little Rock on drug related charges.[22]
Mr. and Mrs. Jeffries went on to have eight children: Gloria, Virginia, Andrew Jr., Bobby, Sheri, Belynda, Danny, and Helen “Teri”.Four daughters received their Bachelor of Art degrees in Education, and one daughter received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics.Three girls journeyed on to receive Masters of Arts degrees in Education.During the years that his daughters attended college, Mr. Jeffries insisted on paying all tuitions without governmental assistance.[23] Mr. and Mrs. Jeffries were married for 61 years and remained pillars of strength in the community they loved so much.“Mr. J.,” as Mr. Jeffries was affectionately known, died on December 9, 2003, surrounded by his family. Upon his death, the Arkansas Senate issued a citation acknowledging Mr. Jeffries’ importance to the community.[24]Mr. Jeffries had a keen appreciation for the arts and was known for his philosophical quotes, speeches, orations, and memorized poetry.He recited poems religiously and offered advice to inexperienced and seasoned entrepreneurs as he sold property or made bonds. This kept him approachable and in close proximity to the community during his entire career.
Christopher C. Mercer, Jr., Attorney
Mr. Christopher Columbus Mercer, Jr., was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, in 1924.[25]He earned a Bachelor’s of Arts degree from Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal College, now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, in 1946.He then attended the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1949, the third African-American student admitted.The six earliest African-Americans students at the school became known as the Six Pioneers.He only attended the school sporadically due to limited financial resources and he took up teaching jobs around central Arkansas.In 1954, Mercer eventually passed the Arkansas bar exam and earn his law license.During the late 1950s, Mercer was Arkansas field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and in 1957 and 1958 helped Daisy Bates during the Central High School Desegregation Crisis in Little Rock.This included serving as a driver for the nine students to and from school.Also in 1958, Mercer started his own independent law practice with two short partnerships with other lawyers, E. V. Trimble and Delector Tiller, between 1959 and 1963.In 1963, Mercer moved his practice into office space in the Jeffries real estate business at 2901 High Street.Interestingly, Mercer would have been very familiar with this area as the Daisy Bates House, now a National Historic Landmark due to its association with Mrs. Daisy Lee Gatson Bates and its role as a meeting and planning space for the Little Rock Nine and their supporters, is located just around the corner at 1207 West 28th Street which is just a short walk from the Murphy-Jeffries Building.
Christopher C. Mercer shared office space in the Murphy-Jeffries Building from 1963 until 1994.While also pursuing his independent law practice, Mercer was appointed deputy prosecuting attorney in Little Rock in 1967, a position he would hold for three years.This appointment was historic and made Mr. Mercer the first black person to hold a deputy prosecuting attorney position in any Southern state.[26]In all the years Mr. Mercer occupied an office in the Murphy-Jeffries Building, according to the Jeffries descendants, he never paid any type of compensation and the office arrangement was based on a handshake and a gentleman’s agreement.[27]Mr. Mercer has been recognized by many individuals and organizations as an important civil rights pioneer and leader in central Arkansas during his over 50 year career in the law.Christopher C. Mercer died on November 20, 2012.
Statement of Significance
The Murphy-Jeffries Building is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion A, with local significance, for its association with the history of community development, economic, and social history of Little Rock’s African-American community from the early 1960s through the 1970s.The Murphy-Jeffries Building is also being nominated Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion B, with local significance, for its association with Andrew Jeffries, owner of A. Jeffries Realty and Bail Bond Company and one of the first African-American realtors in central Arkansas, and the first African American bail bondsman in the state of Arkansas.The building is also being nominated for its association with Christopher C. Mercer, Jr., an attorney known for his work to support the Little Rock Nine and Mrs. Daisy Bates during the Central High Desegregation Crisis, his civil rights leadership, and his long career in the legal profession.
Bibliography
“Andrew Jeffries, Sr.” Obituary.13 December 2003.Courtesy of the Jeffries Family.Copy in the files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.Little Rock, Arkansas.
Arkansas Democrat.Newspaper.Little Rock, Arkansas. 1912 – 1922.
Arkansas Certificate of Merit.Governor Jim Guy Tucker.18 September 1994.Courtesy of the Jeffries Family.Copy in the files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.Little Rock, Arkansas.
“Arkansas Chapter History Facts.”Arkansas Association of Realtist, Inc.https://www.arkansasrealtist.org/history.html.Accessed 1 December 2018.
Arkansas Senate Citation.13 December 2003.Courtesy of the Jeffries Family.Copy in the files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.Little Rock, Arkansas.
Block, Glenn. Interview with Nancy Tell-Hall, January 20, 2018, 723 W. Markham Street,
Little Rock, Arkansas. Audio file, ©The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies.
Daily Arkansas Gazette.Newspaper.Little Rock, Arkansas. 1912 – 1922.
The City of North Little Rock Proclamation.Andrew Jeffries honored by the members of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers.17 June 1993.Courtesy of the Jeffries Family.Copy in the files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.Little Rock, Arkansas.
Harris, Kenneth "Muskie” Wayne. Interview with Nancy Tell-Hall, January 31, 2018,
723 W. Markham Street, Little Rock, Arkansas. Audio file, ©The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies.
Higgins, Holly and Hallie Hearnes.Paul Laurence Dunbar School Neighborhood Historic District.National Register Nomination.Files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.Little Rock, Arkansas.NR Listed 9.27.2013.http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/National-Register-Listings/PDF/PU7348.nr.pdf.
Jeffries, Belynda. Interview with Nancy Tell-Hall, April 24, 2018, Maumelle, Arkansas. Audio file, ©University of Arkansas, Little Rock, Center for Arkansas History and Culture (UALR).
Jeffries, Helen Teryce. Interview with Nancy Tell-Hall, April 24, 2018, Maumelle, Arkansas. Audio file, ©University of Arkansas, Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture (UALR).
Jeffery, R. Brooks.“Odds-on Favorite.”Tucson Lifestyle.Tucson, Arizona.May 2007.pp. 104 – 107.http://capla.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/faculty_papers/Odds-On%20Favorite%20-%20Tucson%20Lifestyle%20May%202007.pdf
Johnson III, Ben F. “After 1957:Resisting Integration in Little Rock” The Arkansas Historical Quarterly.Vol. LXVI, No. 2, Summer 2007.pp. 272-273.
Jones, Kyle L.“Annie Mable McDaniel Abrams.”The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture.Butler Center for Arkansas Studies.10 September 2018. http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net.Accessed 1 December 2018.
Kilpatrick, Judith.“Christopher Columbus Mercer Jr. (1924-2012).”The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture.Butler Center for Arkansas Studies.20 March 2016.http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net.Accessed 1 December 2018.
Kirk, John A. ed.An Epitaph for Little Rock:A Fiftieth Anniversary Retrospective on the Central High Crises.Fayetteville, AR:University of Arkansas Press.2008.
Polk's Little Rock/North Little Rock, including Cammack Village (Pulaski County, Ark.) City Directories.Dallas, TX: R. L. Polk & Co., 1920-1968.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Company.Maps of Little Rock, 1913 – 1950.Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, Central Arkansas Library System.Little Rock, Arkansas.
“Surgeon Gen. Elders’ Son Arrested For Selling Cocaine.”National Report.JET.Magazine.10 January 1993.
Tell-Hall, Nancy and Ralph Wilcox.Block Realty Building.National Register Nomination.Files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.Little Rock, Arkansas.NR Listed 11.30.2018.http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/National-Register-Listings/PDF/PU4550.nr.pdf
United States Census Rolls.Little Rock, Arkansas.1910 – 1940.
University of Little Rock Map Collection. UALR.MAP.L-053. “Little Rock, Argenta, ca. 1917.”UALR Center for Arkansas History and Culture, Arkansas Studies Institute, Little Rock.
University of Little Rock Map Collection.UALR.MAP.L-040. “Little Rock, North Little Rock, 1926.”UALR Center for Arkansas History and Culture, Arkansas Studies Institute, Little Rock.
Warranty Deeds: December 2, 1929, December 11, 1963, Book 857, Pages 565 – 566, and March 30, 1965, Book 912, Pages 912 – 913. Courtesy of the Jeffries Family.
[2] Arkansas Democrat, 9 October 1920, p. 10.Arkansas Democrat, 19 February 1919, p. 9.Arkansas Democrat, 11 December 1918, p. 9.Daily Arkansas Gazette, 6 June 1920, p. 19.
[3] Daily Arkansas Gazette, 24 March 1918, p. 16.
[4] Daily Arkansas Gazette, 8 November 1922, p. 8.Daily Arkansas Gazette, 18 July 1921, p. 3.
[5] United States Census, Little Rock, Arkansas, 1910 – 1940.
[6] Polk's Little Rock/North Little Rock, including Cammack Village (Pulaski County, Ark.) City Directories, Dallas, TX: R. L. Polk & Co., 1920-1968.
[7] Holly Higgins and Hallie Hearnes, Paul Laurence Dunbar School Neighborhood Historic District, National Register Nomination, Files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas, NR Listed 9.27.2013, http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/National-Register-Listings/PDF/PU7348.nr.pdf.
[8] Polk's Little Rock/North Little Rock City Directories, 1920-1968.
[9] Ibid. United States Census, Little Rock, Arkansas, 1910 – 1940.
[10] R. Brooks Jeffery, “Odds-on Favorite,” Tucson Lifestyle, Tucson, Arizona, May 2007, pp. 104 – 107.“Husband and Wife Separated,” newspaper article from an unknown Tucson newspaper, files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.
[11] Kyle L. Jones, “Annie Mable McDaniel Abrams,” The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, 10 September 2018, http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net, Accessed 1 December 2018.
[12] “Andrew Jeffries, Sr.” Obituary, 13 December 2003, Courtesy of the Jeffries Family, Copy in the files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas.
[13] Hellen Teryce Jeffries, Interview with Nancy Tell-Hall, April 24, 2018, Maumelle, Arkansas, Audio file, ©University of Arkansas, Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture (UALR).
[14] “Andrew Jeffries, Sr.” Obituary, 13 December 2003.Nancy Tell-Hall and Ralph Wilcox, Block Realty Building, National Register Nomination, Files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas, NR Listed 11.30.2018, http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/National-Register-Listings/PDF/PU4550.nr.pdf
[15]Ben F. Johnson III, “After 1957:Resisting Integration in Little Rock” The Arkansas Historical Quarterly.Vol. LXVI, No. 2, Summer 2007.pp. 272-273.
[16] Kenneth “Muskie” Wayne Harris, Interview with Nancy Tell-Hall, January 31, 2018,
723 W. Markham Street, Little Rock, Arkansas, Audio file, ©The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies.
[17] Nancy Tell-Hall and Ralph Wilcox, Block Realty Building, National Register Nomination, Files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas, NR Listed 11.30.2018, http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/National-Register-Listings/PDF/PU4550.nr.pdf
[18]Ben F. Johnson III, “After 1957:Resisting Integration in Little Rock” The Arkansas Historical Quarterly.Vol. LXVI, No. 2, Summer 2007.pp. 272-273.
[19] United States District Court, E.D. Arkansas, W.DApr 13, 1984584 F. Supp. 328 (E.D. Ark. 1984).
[20] Certificate issued by the State of Arkansas – Arkansas Insurance Department, Effective Date:July 18, 1963.Copy in the files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program and in the personal files of the Jeffries Family of Little Rock, Arkansas.
[21] “Arkansas Chapter History Facts,” Arkansas Association of Realtist, Inc., https://www.arkansasrealtist.org/history.html, Accessed 1 December 2018.
[22] “Surgeon Gen. Elders’ Son Arrested For Selling Cocaine,” National Report, JET, magazine, 10 January 1993.
[23] “Andrew Jeffries, Sr.” Obituary, 13 December 2003.Additional information added by surviving Jeffries family members.
[24] Arkansas Senate Citation, 13 December 2003, Courtesy of the Jeffries Family, Copy in the files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas.
[25] Judith Kilpatrick, “Christopher Columbus Mercer Jr. (1924-2012),” The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, 20 March 2016, http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net, Accessed 1 December 2018.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Belynda Jeffries, Interview with Nancy Tell-Hall, April 24, 2018, Maumelle, Arkansas, Audio file, ©University of Arkansas, Little Rock, Center for Arkansas History and Culture (UALR).