Carl Moneyhon is an Emeritus Professor of UA Little Rock’s Department of History. He holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. His primary fields of study are the Civil War and Reconstruction eras with a focus on events in Arkansas and Texas. His publications that have focused on issues related to emancipation include The Impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on Arkansas, George T Ruby: Champion of Equal Rights in Reconstruction Texas, and The Union League and Biracial Politics in Reconstruction Texas. He also has an article in press at the Southwestern Historical Quarterly entitled “Emancipation Day to Juneteenth: The Origins of a Texas Celebration,” which is scheduled for publication in July 2024.
Joyce Elliott is a Southerner by birth and by choice. She is the Executive Director of Get Loud Arkansas, a nonprofit organization working to fight voter suppression, register new voters, engage low-propensity voters, and mobilize all eligible voters to utilize the power of their vote to shape the future of Arkansas. She is currently the co-chair of the board for the National Center on Education and the Economy, an organization dedicated to the study, design, and building of equitable, high-performing, and cost-effective education and work development systems that prepare students to contribute to our democratic society and compete in the global economy.
She acknowledges, “Like any place, Arkansas has its flaws, but I am far from being defined by those flaws alone. “More pronounced in my life are the Arkansas people who made me, who loved me; the opportunities afforded me; the country roads on which I learned to drive; the red soil of Southwest Arkansas, where I walked country roads; and the endless trails that led to the next stream. It seems all my life I have inherently understood the promise and the potential of my state. I am forever grateful many saw the promise in me. As a result, I consider it a privilege and a duty to make whatever contribution I can to humanity, first and foremost, and to Arkansas.”
She grew up in the tiny community of Willisville, Arkansas, where she graduated from high school in a class of nine students.
Unusually aware of the joyous power of education and of the mysterious power of politics at an early age, Joyce committed to becoming a teacher and service through politics, though at the time she did not know exactly all of what politics encompassed. It was the effect politics had on civil rights that grabbed her attention and never relented.
Joyce earned an undergraduate degree in English and speech from Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia and a graduate degree in English from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. For thirty years, Elliott taught high school juniors and seniors (both Advanced Placement and standard classes). In June 2004, Elliott left the classroom and began working for the College Board, focusing on expanding access to AP for students currently underrepresented in AP classes: African American, Latino, rural, and low-income students. From 2005-2010 she served as Director of Government Relations for the Southwestern Region of the College Board.
Joyce was elected to the House of Representatives in 2000 and to the Senate in 2008. After serving 6 years in the House and 14 years in the Senate, she was term-limited on December 31, 2022. In her last term in the Senate, Elliott served on the Education Committee, where she was vice-chair; the Insurance and Commerce; Budget; and Retirement Committees. In both the House and the Senate, Joyce was named by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette as one of the Ten Best Legislators of the General Assembly. In her first term in the Arkansas Senate, Talk Business Arkansas magazine named her one of Arkansas’s Top Ten Legislators, the only freshman to be so named. At the 2009 National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), she was elected to the NCSL Executive Committee. In 2012, Elliott, along with her Republican counterpart, was elected Chair of the NCSL Education Committee. A former member of the Southern Region Education Board, she was appointed by both Gov. Mike Beebe (D) and Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R). Elliott is the former Chair of the Southern Region of Education Board of Directors, where she served on the Executive Committee.
Joyce is the mother of one son and a granddaughter. An outdoor enthusiast, Joyce enjoys traveling, especially to our National Parks, hiking, dancing, canoeing, zip lining, and whitewater rafting. She is an admitted adrenaline junkie, who is most disappointed she has not had the opportunity to hang glide, which is top on her bucket list.
Having grown up in a world of savage unfairness and inequality, Joyce is guided by her deeply held, personal belief about all humanity: “When my days on Earth end, I hope I will be remembered for relentlessly working, without exceptions, for fairness for everyone. My vow is to do all I can to make sure everyone, no matter their station in life, has an equitable opportunity to succeed.”