Date of Award
1969
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
First Advisor
Dr. B. C. Riley
Second Advisor
Dr. Jim Berryman
Third Advisor
Dr. Dennis Holt
Abstract
Mitchellville, Arkansas, a rural community of 150 displaced farm families in Desha County, is a relic of the agricultural past. The unskilled laborers pursue vocations of cotton chopping and cotton picking with little success. Vocational skills required in an urban society are sorely lacking. Affluence is nonexistent.
Governmental and private agencies are emphasizing the need of education for the citizens of the United States. The citizen of Mitchellville has been deprived of an adequate education. Even the basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic are minimal.
Other areas where great need is reflected are recreation, health, housing, and employment. Mitchellville has no parks nor other recreational facilities. The housing consists of dilapidated shacks. Most homes do not have indoor plumbing. The accepted standards of living are but illusionary dreams to the citizens of Mitchellville.
On December 2, 1967, twenty-one volunteer students from Ouachita Baptist University traveled to Mitchellville. Under the direction of Mrs. Daisy Bates of the Office of Economic Opportunity Rural Training Program and Dr. Bob c. Riley, Chairman of the Department of Political Science at Ouachita Baptist University and consultant of the Office of Economic Opportunity Rural Training Program, the students conducted a survey to determine the extent of specific needs of the citizens of Mitchellville.
Recommended Citation
Stipek, Patricia Merry, "A Study of a Student Oriented Effort to Rehabilitate a Small Delta Town" (1969). OBU Graduate Theses. 37.
https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/grad_theses/37