(WASHINGTONPOST) — An Arkansas county will vote next week to repeal a forgotten ordinance permitting businesses to operate “whites only” drinking fountains.
Donna Massey, a justice of the peace in Pulaski County, said she found out about the ordinance from a friend of a friend of a friend who collects vintage signs and came across a “whites only” drinking fountain sign with a county ordinance number. The county, which includes Little Rock and its suburbs, approved the ordinance in 1950.
The county attorney couldn’t find the law — “the record-keeping wasn’t up to date,” Massey said — but with no proof it was ever repealed, it could still be on the books.
