William Pickens, who became a nationally known orator, scholar, journalist and essayist, was born in South Carolina but spent his formative years in Arkansas, living in Woodruff County and Argenta (now North Little Rock).
In 1906, a Black man named Govan Beard was convicted and sentenced to death for assaulting a white woman in Phillips County. The Arkansas Supreme Court twice denied his appeal, and Gov. Jeff Davis refused to pardon Beard, despite the alleged victim publicly recanting her testimony, thus sending the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
As documented by the 2020 U.S. Census, Calhoun County has the smallest population among Arkansas' 75 counties. Located in the piney woods of south central Arkansas, Calhoun County, with Hampton as its county seat, has 5,113 residents. It was 75th in population in the 2010 census, coming in at 5,368. The county has been losing population for a full century; the high point was 1920 when it stood at 11,807.