Southern Tenant Farmers Museum

The historic Mitchell-East Building and adjacent former bank in Tyronza have been renovated by Arkansas State University to creat the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum. During the early 1930s, the building housed the businesses of H. L. Mitchell and Clay East, two of the principal founders of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union (STFU). This national union, established in Tyronza in 1934 by 11 whites and 7 blacks, conducted much of its business at the Mitchell-East Building. The STFU, which included women and blacks in leadership positions alongside white males, is regarded as a forerunner of the 1960s civil rights movement. The museum includes photographic exhibits, artifacts, oral histories, music and video focusing on the farm labor movement in the South and the tenant farming system of agriculture.