Editing Sheridan, Arkansas (section)

===World War II and the Cold War (1941–1991)===
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 4–6, 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=129–192}}</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" />