Editing Tyronza, Arkansas (section)

==History==
{{unreferenced section|date=May 2017}}
Tyronza is one of the oldest cities within Poinsett County with its origins dating back to the late 19th century. In the 1930s, it was the site where the Southern Tenant Farmers movement started what became a national outcry against the abusive discrimination by wealthy land owners against the mostly African-American sharecroppers. A  museum in the city, operated by Arkansas State University, highlights the history of organizing by tenant farmers in order to secure better prices and conditions, and the history of the region.

Tyronza was the home of Dr. L. H. McDaniel, a local physician who became friends with President [[Lyndon Baines Johnson]] through his political involvement in the Democratic Party. McDaniel was a close advisor to Johnson and to U.S. House Ways and Means Chairman [[Wilbur D. Mills ]](D-Arkansas) in the creation of the Medicare and Medicaid programs which began in 1965, the year McDaniel died. He treated patients all over eastern Arkansas regardless of their ability to pay and often accepted live chickens, baked goods and garden vegetables as payment for his home visits. McDaniel was a national delegate to Democratic Conventions in the 1950s and brought national political and medical leaders to Tyronza with conferences he set up in huge 1,000-seat tents on the outskirts of the city.

Although the community started as a county farming and retail center, it has become a bedroom community for its many residents who work in Jonesboro or Memphis but who prefer the small town lifestyle.

=== Socialism ===
Tyronza was historically a hotbed for [[socialism]] and [[communism]] during the early 20th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Socialist Party |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/socialist-party-4788/ |access-date=2025-02-15 |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |language=en-US}}</ref> 

In 1934, the [[Southern Tenant Farmers Union|Southern Tenant Farmers Union (STFU)]] was formed in the town to organize local [[Sharecropping|sharecroppers]] towards getting better arrangements from landowners.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Southern Tenant Farmers' Union |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/southern-tenant-farmers-union-35/ |access-date=2025-02-15 |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |language=en-US}}</ref> 

[[Ward H. Rodgers|Ward H. Rogers]], a Texas-born minister and labor activist, threatened to hang every [[Planter class|plantation owner]] in [[Poinsett County, Arkansas]] if the demands of the sharecroppers were not met.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union {{!}} Facing South |url=https://www.facingsouth.org/1974/08/southern-tenant-farmers-union |access-date=2025-02-15 |website=www.facingsouth.org}}</ref>