Mrs. Regina Stewart-Hampton,
Arthur Montgomery (Batesville), Dr. Reginald "R.J."
Hampton (Photograph
by Janet Harney)
Discover yourself and to it be true,
Follow yourself in all you do.
For heaven hath no actor,
And it be true,
Who can play best the part that is really you. -
Dr. R.J. Hampton
Dr. Hampton grew up in Newport,
Arkansas and currently lives in Little Rock,
Arkansas. Dr. Hampton attended:
Shorter Junior College
Philander Smith
American University of
Washington, D.C. as a Rockefeller scholar,
and Miami School of Business.
He was President of Shorter College
from 1968 - to 1971 and again from 1976 - 1980.
Owner and publisher of the Pine Bluff newspaper
"Arkansas Mirror", which ran from 1967 - 1970 and
pastor with the A.M.E. Church.
He became involved in Arkansas
politics while in college during the 1957 Central
High Crisis and then in 1964 he managed the local
Lyndon Johnson presidential campaign.
In 1970, Dr. Hampton became the
first black man to run for governor in Arkansas when
he ran against Winthrop Rockefeller and was listed
in "Faubus to Bumpers: Arkansas Votes 1960 - 1970"
as the third most influential black man in Arkansas.
Portrait by Tommy Caddo
Dr. Hampton telling me of his hurt
as a child when he was told to call another child
"Miss Janet" instead of just Janet.
Dr. R.J. describing a close
encounter with lynching when he was eleven years
old. Newport, Arkansas
Dr. Reginald Hampton describing voter
difficulties during his 1970 run for Governor.
Jet Magazine,
September 1970.
Dr. Hampton talking about closing the juke joints
down in Newport.
Dr. Hampton talks about Segregation as a system.
Dr. Reginald Jeffrey "R.J." and his lovely wife,
Mrs. Regina Stewart-Hampton.
