Whose Year Is It? Museum exhibit explores 50-year tradition of switching races for AHS homecoming queen

By RISÉ SANDERS-WEIR | Special to arkadelphian.com

Whose Year is It? is a new exhibit at the Clark County Arkansas Museum about the history of Arkadelphia High School’s homecoming tradition of switching between minority and majority girls for homecoming queen. 

The tradition started in the early 1970s and ended in 2020.

My last homecoming at Arkadelphia High School in 1987 was a “Black” year. No one thought that was unusual. By then the tradition had been going on for a long time. I had a vague understanding that it had something to do with integration of the schools. But to be honest, I couldn’t have even told you what date the schools fully integrated. (It was 1969.)

As the years passed, I didn’t give our alternating tradition much thought. I went to college and fast forward to a career making documentaries. I worked for on projects for A&E, TLC and History Channel in the 1990s. In 2015 I started working on a documentary about the high school in Oak Park, Illinois. That series, called America to Me, can still be seen via Amazon. 

That high school, though larger, has roughly the same demographics as Arkadelphia. Yet I was surprised to learn that Oak Park didn’t consciously integrate their cheerleading squad (mostly Black) or their dance team (mostly white). When I asked why not, people were aghast. They told me that would be discrimination to say how many of any group should be included in any activity.

That gave me pause and started me thinking. When I returned to Arkadelphia for my 30th high school reunion, I talked with classmates about it during the football game. The ones who still lived in town laughed. They said that when people moved to Arkadelphia, they were shocked about alternating the queen.

Shortly afterward, I learned that the current students wanted to end the practice. They believed they didn’t need the guardrails that the tradition provided. In modern times, there were Hispanic students and other ethnic and racial identities that had to sort out where they belonged. Plus, there were multi-racial students who experienced the stress of having to choose one parent’s identity. And there were those who weren’t sure where the tradition came from and were suspicious of it in general.

By then I had come to understand the origins of why we alternated. It was a symbolic gesture to ease the transition of integration. Created to build Badger pride and community. Back then the student body was 30% African American and 70% white.

Switching gave visibility to both groups. That being said, the creators never imagined their plan would have a 50-year run.

In 2019 students petitioned the board to end the practice and two years later the Queen and Maid of Honor were elected solely by popular vote for the first time. I tried to film a documentary about it. I felt it was a positive story with a positive ending. School board members I talked with were excited about the idea, but the school’s superintendent at the time was not keen on having a story with an unknown outcome filmed. FYI, the Queen that year turned out to be a Hispanic girl.

Arkadelphia has moved into a new homecoming era, but I believe its history is worth preserving. In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s a great deal was asked of our students as they integrated the schools. It was not always a smooth endeavor. The reign of our Queens helped unite and knit a new identity.

I created this exhibit to honor their experiences. I invite you to come see it at the Clark County Museum, starting on Saturday, Oct. 11 and running several months into 2026. The museum is located in the Amtrak depot at 750 S. 5th St.

My deep gratitude to Arkansas Heritage for funding the research and exhibit; the Clark County Museum officers and staff; Rev. Johnny Harris, from the class of 1971 and my high school algebra teacher who was my first point of contact about the history; and all the others who generously gave their time and recollections.

Risé Sanders-Weir is a 1988 graduate of Arkadelphia High School. She is a documentary filmmaker, adjunct professor and part-time reporter for the Wednesday Journal in Oak Park, Illinois.