Josephine Pankey was an educator, realtor and philanthropist. Discover how she made history in the Little Rock area.

Mrs. Pankey purchased three major plots of land. In 1907 she purchased eighty acres of land that was located thirteen miles west of Little Rock. She bought two and a half acres in 1908. It was in the southwest corner of the town called Pulaski Heights on North Cleveland Street. The third purchase was a fifteen-acre plot near Boyles Park in 1910. Pankey, the first land to be purchased and the last to be platted, is the only community that still exists today. In 1922 she purchased an additional eighty acres that adjoined the original eighty. The land was subdivided into a total of sixty-one blocks and 732 lots on the north and south sides of Cantrell Road. The Pankey community stretched for several miles. In 1979 Pankey was annexed into Little Rock and many of the community businesses moved or closed. Little Rock’s western expansion engulfed the community and current residents strive to maintain what is left of the Pankey heritage.

Josephine Pankey, with the encouragement of her husband Samuel, was on a mission. Blacks, by law, were restricted to where they could buy land and live, and financing was not generally available from banks.  In 1907 she purchased land thirteen miles northwest of Little Rock and founded a community for Blacks.

Located next to the entrance of Conner Park, this marker identifies the African American community founded by Josephine Pankey

Pankey Community

Along with education and homeownership Mrs. Pankey was concerned about the spiritual well-being of the citizens of Pankey. The first church that Mrs. Pankey donated land for was Pankey Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1911. The congregation first met in a residence but erected a building in 1917. The church is not in existence today. In 1929 Mrs. Pankey donated land for First Baptist Church of Pankey. It was started by Reverend A. Riller, Deacons Thompson and Facing and local residents.  The church also served as a school during the week. It is one of two churches that exist today that Mrs. Pankey donated the land for its establishment. The other church still in existence is Grace Temple Church of God in Christ.

As the Pankey community grew places of worship were needed. In 1911 Josephine Pankey began donating land for places of worship.  First Baptist Church of Pankey was the second of these. The land was donated in 1929. The first church was Pankey Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church and no longer is in existence.

The second of four churches that Josephine Pankey donated land for, First Baptist Church of Pankey sits at the corner of Harris Road and Pankey Avenue.

First Baptist Church of Pankey

After donating land for Pankey Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1911 and First Baptist Church of Pankey in 1929, land for this church was donated by Mrs. Pankey. In 1940 Grace Temple Church of God in Christ was formed.  It, along with the others, served as a school during the week. Fred and Annie Fulton were instrumental in carrying out the ideals and beliefs of the founders of the church.  It is one of two churches that are still in existence today that Mrs. Pankey donated land for its establishment in the Pankey community. The other church still in existence is First Baptist Church of Pankey. She donated land in 1947 for a Colored Methodist Episcopal church to be built. It was never built and the land eventually was sold to a private owner.

Josephine Pankey donated land for this church in 1940. She was dedicated to serving her community through providing for their spiritual needs as well as their educational needs. This was the third of four churches that Mrs. Pankey donated land for its establishment. One was never built, and only two of the other three still exists.

Grace Temple Church of God in Christ was the third of four churches that Josephine Pankey donated land for in the Pankey community.

Grace Temple Church of God in Christ

Education was important to Josephine Pankey and the residents of the Pankey community. For many years school was held in the churches of the community. Mrs. Pankey donated land, and she petitioned the Pulaski County Special School District to establish a school in Pankey. The church schools were consolidated, and in the 1920s through the 1940s classes were held in Pankey School. It was a one room building with one window. A new school was built on the property in the 1950s and named Pankey Elementary School. From 1958 to 1965 over 200 Black students from Pankey and surrounding areas attended the school. Beginning in 1965 students were sent to Joe T. Robinson Elementary, Middle and High Schools as part of mandated integration of schools. In 1968 Pankey School was closed, and in 1988, because of damage from a fire, the Little Rock School District, who had gained ownership of the land and building, demolished the building. The District deeded the land back to the Pankey community in 2000 for them to build a new education center. A grant was acquired and construction of the education center began, but the funding ran out and the building remained unfinished. An agreement between Pankey and the city of Little Rock for there to be a police substation housed in the building along with the education center was made, and the building was finished and opened on November 15, 2016.

This center opened on November 15, 2016 after much struggle for its existence. It sits on land that once had a one-room school building on it, and then in the 1950s Pankey Elementary School was built on the land. The school was torn down in the late 1980s, and a joint effort of the Pankey community and the City of Little Rock made the opening of the center possible. 

The educational portion of the center consists of a large multipurpose space, a lobby and a kitchen.

Josephine Pankey Center

Josephine was born in Cleveland, Ohio on November 17, 1869. She moved to Arkansas at the request of her uncle, Bishop C. R. of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, to become a principal in the White River and DeValls Bluff areas where there were Colored communities. She married Eugine Harris, and they moved to Pine Bluff. The marriage did not last, so she moved to Little Rock to make a fresh start. She joined Bethel AME Church. Samuel was born in Chester, South Carolina in 1856, and became an educator after attending Rust College (then Shaw University) in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Samuel relocated to Arkansas, with his wife and children, to become a principal in the eastern part of the state. He later left teaching and became a postal worker. His wife became ill and died in 1896. He and his seven children attended Bethel AME Church. Bethel AME Church was the first African Methodist Episcopal church formed in Arkansas. It was dedicated in 1875. Josephine and Samuel met there.  At that time Samuel still had four children living at home.  Samuel, in the summer of 1904, asked Josephine to marry him and she accepted. They began their new family and home on September 24, 1904. They understood the importance of home ownership for Blacks and in 1907 began buying and selling land in the Little Rock area.

The Couple met at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Josephine Irvin Harris was a divorced educator, and Samuel Pankey was a widower with seven children. They married in 1904, and she would become a real estate powerhouse. She acquired over 500 acres of land and made homeownership possible for many African Americans in the Little Rock area.


Josephine and Samuel Pankey

Josephine Pankey’s many accomplishments, as an African American woman in the early 1900s, were honored in 2016. Her name was placed on the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail.  The Trail was created by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity. Starting in front of the Old State House it extends down West Markham and eventually to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum. The first names were placed in 2011 and are placed annually. Each year has a theme, and in the year Mrs. Pankey was honored, it was “Economic Advancement.” Mrs. Pankey knew the importance of home ownership and began purchasing land in 1907 and established the Black community of Pankey fifteen miles northwest of Little Rock. She purchased and sold many acres of land in the area and established communities, but the Pankey community is the only one still in existence today.

Mrs. Pankey was honored by being placed on the trail in 2016. The Trail acknowledges the sacrifices and achievements of those who fought for racial and ethnic justice in Arkansas. Each year has a theme and selected honorees names are placed on the Trail.  The theme in 2016 was “Economic Advancement.”

A bronze marker commemorates the contributions of Josephine Pankey to Arkansas and African American communities.

Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail - Josephine Pankey

Mrs. Pankey closed her real estate office in 1947 at the age of 78 and moved to the first community she established, Pankey. She rented a small house on Harris Street and lived there until her passing in 1954. She was 83. She was buried in Oakland-Fraternal Cemetery. Mrs. Pankey, her husband Samuel, and two step-children Willie and Theo were buried in a method performed in cemeteries in Ohio, where she was born. Samuel was buried above Willie and Josephine was buried above Theo. Mrs. Pankey’s parents were buried in the same method. Oakland-Fraternal Cemetery is one of seven distinct cemeteries that make up the Oakland &amp; Fraternal Historic Cemetery Park. The Fraternal Cemetery is fourteen acres of Oakland and originally was established in 1893. African American fraternal orders petitioned the City of Little Rock for the land.  It has a granite marker in it that reads, “Free American Citizens.”  The cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.

Josephine Pankey, along with her husband, Samuel, and two of her step-children, Willie and Theo, are buried in the Oakland-Fraternal Cemetery. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. They were buried in a method performed in cemeteries in Ohio, and Mrs. Pankey's parents were buried in the same method.

This gravestone marks the place where Josephine Pankey, along with her husband and two step-children were buried.

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Josephine Pankey Heritage Trail

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