Arkansas General Assembly 1959

Starting in 1957, three successive Arkansas General Assemblies passed an ever-increasing and ever-more drastic set of pro-segregation measures. In 1959, Act 14 made it illegal for a person to refuse to leave a place of business if requested to do so by the management for any reason. Act 81 created a bus seat numbering system for intra state bus journeys in an attempt to preserve segregation by seat assignment. Act 115 forbade any member of the NAACP from holding a government position. Act 482 stated that any blood donated to a hospital or blood bank should by labeled by race and that any person receiving a transfusion should be notified of the race of the donor. The courts subsequently ruled much of the legislation unconstitutional, even though the state fought for it at great expense to taxpayers.