Sept. 22, 2006 - Plans to establish a Southern Tenant Farmers Museum in Tyronza began in 2002, when the historic Mitchell-East Building was donated to Arkansas State University by the City of Tyronza. During the 1930s, this building housed the dry cleaning business of H. L.. Mitchell and the service station of Clay East, two of the organizers of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union in 1934. Their building served as the unofficial headquarters for the union until offices were moved to Memphis.

The building has been renovated utilizing grants from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council (ANCRC) and a “We the People” Challenge Grant through the National Endowment for the Humanities. Arkansas State University also acquired the adjacent historic Tyronza Bank building through ANCRC funds. Facades of the bank and the Mitchell-East Building have been restored to their 1930s appearance, while the bank interior has been modified to include a reception area, gift shop, office and classroom.

Museum exhibits, located in the Mitchell-East Building, focus on the farm labor movement in the South and the tenant farming and sharecropping system of agriculture. Stories are told through historic photographs, artifacts related to tenant farming, oral history excerpts, 1930s news reel footage, and interactive exhibits featuring STFU songs, poems, and interviews with former union leaders. The exhibits were developed in conjunction with the ASU Museum and the ASU Heritage Studies Ph.D. program.

The museum will be open from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. Monday through Friday and by appointment on Saturdays. Special programs can be arranged for school tours to enhance and support classroom activities. For information, call 870-972-2803.

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