Dyess, Arkansas

Dyess is a town in Mississippi County, Arkansas, United States. The town was founded as Dyess Colony in 1934 as part of the Roosevelt administration's agricultural relief and rehabilitation program and was the largest agrarian community established by the federal government during the Great Depression. The town is best remembered as the boyhood home of country singer-songwriter Johnny Cash. The surviving original buildings of the colony period are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the "Dyess Colony Center."

History

Establishment

Dyess Colony was established in Mississippi County, Arkansas in 1934 as part of the New Deal efforts of Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide economic relief to ameliorate suffering in the Great Depression. The experiment was the largest such community-building experiment established by the federal government during these years.

The project was established by Mississippi Country cotton planter and local politician William Reynolds Dyess (1894-1936), director of the Arkansas Emergency Relief Administration, who initially sought the establishment of a self-supporting agricultural community housing 800 families upon unused Mississippi Delta farmland. Director Dyess established the entity remembered to history as "Dyess Colony" as "Colonization Project No. 1," plans for which were submitted to chief of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) Harry Hopkins early in 1934. The project was approved by Hopkins in March 1934.

Arkansas

Arkansas (ⁱ/ˈɑːrkənsɔː/) is a state located in the Southern region of the United States. Its name is of Siouan derivation, denoting the Quapaw Indians. The state's diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozark and the Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U.S. Interior Highlands, to the densely forested land in the south known as the Arkansas Timberlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River and the Arkansas Delta. Known as "the Natural State", Arkansas has many diverse regions that offer residents and tourists a variety of opportunities for outdoor recreation.

Arkansas is the 29th largest in square miles and the 33rd most populous of the 50 United States. The capital and most populous city is Little Rock, located in the central portion of the state, a hub for transportation, business, culture, and government. The northwestern corner of the state, including the Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers Metropolitan Area and Fort Smith metropolitan area, is also an important population, education, and economic center. The largest city in the eastern part of the state is Jonesboro. The largest city in the southeastern part of the state is Pine Bluff.

Arkansas (The Residents album)

Arkansas is a rarities compilation by the Residents. All of the songs on the album were recorded during the Bunny Boy sessions.

Track listing

Arkansas (song)

"Arkansas", written by Eva Ware Barnett in 1916, is one of the official state songs of Arkansas. It was first adopted as the state song in the early 20th century, but was removed in 1949 due to a copyright dispute. After the state settled the dispute by buying all claims to its copyright, it was restored as state song in 1963.

In 1987, the General Assembly elevated the song to "state anthem" in order to designate "Arkansas (You Run Deep In Me)" and "Oh, Arkansas", both written for the state's 150th birthday in 1986, as state songs; it also designated "The Arkansas Traveler", the state song from 1949 to 1963, as "state historical song".

Another 1987 law requires the Secretary of State to respond to all requests for copies of the "state song" with this song. However, this was done only to preserve the historical status of this song; all four songs are either copyrighted by the state itself or in the public domain. Today, the Secretary of State posts the lyrics to all four songs on its website.