Clay Fulks Explained

Clay Fulks (1880–1964) was a writer on Arkansas lore.^[1]

In his articles Fulks was one of those who shared H. L. Mencken's dichotomy between a backward and an enlightened South.^[2] This dichotomy Fulks blamed on an infestation of parsons.^[3]

In 1918, Fulks was the unsuccessful Socialist Party of America candidate for governor of Arkansas against Charles Hillman Brough.^{[4] [5]}

Fulks wrote Rev. Ben M. Bogard Fails to Halt Devil Darrow, an attack of ridicule on the conservative theologian Ben M. Bogard, of Little Rock, Arkansas, who challenged the secularism of the Chicago attorney Clarence Darrow.

Fulks also wrote The War Between Science and Faith.

Notes and References

1. Radical education in the rural South: Commonwealth College, 1922-1940 - Page 94 William H. Cobb - "Arkansan Clay Fulks. Wilson, a former minister, would teach psychology while Fulks, writer and expert on Arkansas lore, was designated to teach courses in law and agricultural problems. A well-known liberal/radical, Fulks had "been battling the forces of fundamentalist ignorance for a quarter of a century" as a "teacher, school principal, attorney, nationally published satirical essayist and gubernatorial candidate. "
2. Serpent in Eden: H. L. Mencken and the South - p108 Fred C. Hobson - 1974 "In articles by Johnson, Lewis, Emily Clark, Charles Pekor of Georgia, and Clay Fulks of Arkansas, among others148 — and also by non-Southerners who ventured into the South and reported back to the Mercury149 — there existed a constant ..."
3. Rethinking Zion: how the print media placed fundamentalism in the Mary Beth Swetnam Mathews - 2006 -p95 "According to the author, Clay Fulks, "pragmatical parsons infest the Arkansas region" and "incite" the laity "continuously against intelligence wherever it shows its head."2' ."
4. The governors of Arkansas: essays in political biography p152 ed Timothy Paul Donovan, Willard B. Gatewood, Jeannie M. Whayne - 1995 "The Republican Party did not nominate a candidate but endorsed Brough, who defeated the Socialist candidate, Clay Fulks, by a margin of 62273 votes. As governor, Brough proposed sweeping reforms. He urged that a new constitution be ..."
5. Centennial history of Arkansas 1 Dallas T. Herndon - 1922 - The election was held on November 5, 1918, and the vote for governor was as follows: Brough, 68,191; Fulks, 4,792. ... Much of his message was devoted to the part Arkansas played in World War I. Further mention of this part of the ...