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==History== ===Indigenous peoples, pioneers and Trail of Tears=== What is now Sheridan was formerly part of the historical territories of the [[Quapaw|Quapaw Nation]]. After the [[Indian Removal Act|Indian Removal Act of 1830]], the Quapaw were removed from the land and pushed further west. By 1833 most had been removed to the [[Indian Territory]] and the land was ceded to the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=892|title=Sheridan (Grant County) - Encyclopedia of Arkansas|website=www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net|access-date=December 3, 2018}}</ref> The first recorded [[Anglo-Americans|Anglo-American]] [[settler]] was Dr. Richard C. Rhodes, a native of [[North Carolina]].<ref name="eoa"/> ===Founding and the early 20th century (1870β1941)=== [[File:General Philip Henry Sheridan during the 1880s.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[United States Army]] Lieutenant-General [[Philip Sheridan]] in the [[1880s]], for whom the city is [[Namesake|named]].]] Founded on January 23, 1870,<ref>{{Citation|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-1971. NARA Microfilm Publication, M841, 145 rolls. Records of the Post Office Department, Record Group Number 28|publisher=[[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]]|place=Washington, D.C.}}</ref> Sheridan was [[Municipal corporation|incorporated]] as a [[municipality]] by the Grant County Quorum Court on August 26, 1887. Lieutenant-General [[Philip Sheridan]], for whom the city is [[Namesake|named]], served as the eighth [[Commanding General of the United States Army|commanding general of the U.S. Army]] from 1883 until his death in 1888.<!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please DO NOT CHANGE link to "General (United States)" or "General of the Army (United States)" as it would be historically inaccurate. At the time of municipal incorporation (August 26, 1887), Philip Sheridan was still a lieutenant general. He would not be promoted to the grade of "General of the Army" for another ten months (June 1, 1888). Thank you. --><ref name="eoa" /> At the beginning of the [[20th century]], a railroad passed through Sheridan south into [[Dallas County, Arkansas|Dallas County]]. Owned by E. S. McCarty, it transported both freight and passengers for hire.<ref>''McCarty v. Nelson'', 195 S.W. 689, 691 (Ark. 1917).</ref> Sheridan was home to Missionary Baptist College, a [[Landmarkism|landmark baptist]] educational institution from 1917 until 1934 when it was forced to close due to financial circumstances resulting from the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]]. A 1920 bulletin published by the college underscored its goal "to teach and emphasize the very principles for which the real [[Baptists]] of Arkansas stand and for which true Baptists have stood for almost nineteen centuries."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Goolsby |first=Elwin |date=April 1991 |title=The Rise and Fall of the Missionary Baptist College |url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~henle/Baptist/ArkCollege.htm |journal=Grassroots - Journal of the Grant County Museum |access-date=June 3, 2012}}</ref> The [[Missionary Baptist Seminary]] was established by [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]]'s Antioch Baptist Church in September 1934 to succeed the Missionary Baptist College after its closure.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Welcome to Missionary Baptist Seminary |url=http://mb-seminary.net/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916235058/http://mb-seminary.net/index.html |archive-date=September 16, 2012 |access-date=June 3, 2012 |website=Missionary Baptist Seminary}}</ref> ===World War II and the Cold War (1941β1991)=== In 1943, Jewell Williams, a [[Jehovah's Witness]], was convicted in the Mayor's Court for selling Bibles without a permit under Sheridan City Ord. No. 50. and fined $10. On a [[trial de novo]], he obtained the same result. Williams joined other members of his faith and appealed similar convictions occurring across the state to the [[Arkansas Supreme Court]] in ''Berry v. City of Hope'', challenging the city ordinance as [[constitutionality|unconstitutional]] under the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]]. The court agreed and held the ordinances unconstitutional.<ref>{{cite web|title=Berry v. Hope|url=http://opinions.aoc.arkansas.gov/WebLink8/DocView.aspx?id=122702&page=1&dbid=0|publisher=Arkansas Supreme Court|access-date=May 19, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161111061936/http://opinions.aoc.arkansas.gov/WebLink8/DocView.aspx?id=122702&page=1&dbid=0|archive-date=November 11, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> The "Mighty 1090" [[KAAY]] radio station sponsored the Rebel Springs Rock Festival of 1973 {{convert|5|mi|0}} east of Sheridan on Highway 270 that included [[ZZ Top]] as a headliner. Tickets were $4 before the show and lasted three days, July 4β6, 1973. The [[Arkansas National Guard|National Guard]] was sent out to maintain "peace". Local property owners attempted to get a court-ordered [[injunction]] to halt the festival from talking place, on the legal theory of [[nuisance]], but to no avail.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mighty1090kaay.blogspot.com/2010/08/rebel-springs-rock-festival-73.html|title=The Mighty 1090 KAAY: Rebel Springs Rock Festival '73|date=August 13, 2010|access-date=February 24, 2017}}</ref> In 1954, Sheridan's school board voted to comply with the Supreme Court's decision in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]''. Sheridan had operated an elementary school for Black children and bused its Black high school students to schools in other counties The protests were so severe that the school board reversed itself the following night. Then, local sawmill owner Jack Williams told his Black employees that they could accept his offer to buy out their homes and give them to the employees, and all move 25 miles west to the town of [[Malvern, Arkansas|Malvern]]. Black residents had no choice, for Williams told them that "if a family refused to move, he would evict them and burn down their home."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Loewen|first=James|title=Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism|publisher=The New Press|year=2005|isbn=978-1-62097-454-4|location=New York|pages=129β192}}</ref> This left Sheridan as a [[sundown town]], and instead of becoming "one of the most racially progressive towns in Arkansas if its initial school board decision had stood, instead became one of its most backward." [[James W. Loewen|Loewen]]'s research describes the fact that "no Sheridan resident lifted a voice to protest the forced buyout of its black community" and a "reputation for bigotry when their high school played interracial teams in athletic contests."<ref name=":0" />
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