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Community Fathers
As Father’s Day approaches, I’ve been thinking about how every community has members who stand out as father figures. One of those figures who influenced my life is Charles E. Bussey Jr.
In 1979, Mr. Bussey worked with Ernest G. Green, who was the first African American graduate of Little Rock Central High School and then became Assistant Secretary of Labor under President Jimmy Carter, to secure Little Rock as one of seven cities selected to test a training program for unemployed youth. Two hundred young people were selected to receive vouchers to participate, with half working independently and half working with counselors to guide them through secondary education resources.
I was one of the students who went to college. Arkansas State University is where my academic adventure began. Dr. Katherine P. Mitchell was the director of the program for the college students. Two years guaranteed advanced education for us. Many of these students earned college degrees because of this foundation.
One student became pregnant after the first year. Mr. Bussey wanted her to succeed. He offered to “adopt” her child while she continued her education. He and his wife would care for the child and support her while she went to school. This offer gave her the resolve to care for her child while taking a class or two every semester as she could afford it until she completed her degree. Both mother and child are college graduates.
Charles E. Bussey Jr. and his wife Maggie Bell Clark Bussey were biological parents to two sons, Charles L. and Carl W. They also shared their home with students needing shelter while they went to college in Little Rock. It was standard to see a large bowl of fruit choices when entering their home. Mr. Bussey also sent Arkansas pecans around the nation to his friends and family members, an act duplicated by many who had the pleasure of visiting in their home at a stage in their life development.
His professional life incorporated helping children and others. He was the first African American deputy sheriff of Pulaski County, the first African American to serve on the City Board of Directors since Reconstruction (serving 1969–1976), and the first African American mayor of Little Rock (serving 1981–1982). He grew up in Stamps (Lafayette County) and worked for an uncle of acclaimed author Maya Angelou, who spent much of her childhood in Stamps. He returned to Arkansas after military service, organizing and leading the Veterans’ Good Government Association to encourage other Black World War II veterans to participate in government.
He became the first Black deputy sheriff of Pulaski County (serving 1950–1969) and organized the Negro Junior Deputy Sheriffs program. Some of the teams included Brown & Booker, Powell’s Grocery, Charmaine Hotel, Routen & Suttles, Powell & White, Tyler Barber College, West Ninth Cab, and S. Smith Barber & B Shop. Other leaders in the community who worked with the Negro division of the Pulaski County Junior Deputy Sheriffs included Dr. L. Routen, Dr. J. M. Robinson, J. R. Booker, Dr. G. W. Ish, Dr. H. A. Powell, John Howard, and Jessie Powell.
Mr. Bussey and former heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis gave pointers to aspiring youth and were referees for several matches between the youth in a 1951 event for the Negro division of the Junior Deputy Sheriffs. Scholarships established by the organization included AM&N College in Pine Bluff (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff), Philander Smith College (now Philander Smith University) in Little Rock, Shorter College in North Little Rock, and Mt. Zion Baptist Church at 911 Cross St. for a ministerial student in honor of the pastor, Rev. F. T. Guy.
The first meeting of the Girls Junior Deputy Sheriffs of Pulaski County under the direction of Mr. Bussey and assisted by Mrs. Dorothy Foster was in 1957. The annual Christmas party of Pulaski County Negro Junior Deputies, held at the Gem Theater, included boys and girls for the first time in 1957. The entertainment included York Wilborn and the Thrillers, local musicians.
An hour-long all-Black talent show began its broadcast in 1957 with a 1:00 p.m. show called Center Stage originating from the Dunbar Community Center at Sixteenth & Chester Streets. Mr. Bussey was the master of ceremonies, and the regular band was York Wilburn and the Thrillers. The first football game between two historically Black colleges to be televised was the homecoming football game between Arkansas AM&N and Prairie View College (Texas), with Mr. Bussey announcing the game. Fourteen bands from Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri participated in the pre-game ceremonies.
Mr. Bussey received many honors, including a city street in Little Rock renamed in his honor and a child development center that bears his name.
Mr. Bussey had a lifetime commitment to help the youth in his community and was a father in the community without assuming the role officially. In the city of Little Rock, I know of at least one hundred youth who benefitted directly from his efforts to push a young person forward and from his example of community service.
Read more about Charles E. Bussey Jr. on the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas here.
By Rhonda Stewart, genealogy and local history specialist for the Central Arkansas Library System’s Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, housed in the CALS Bobby L. Roberts Library of Arkansas History & Art
