Black History Month Reflection: Daisy Gaston Bates Day in Fort Smith's Washington Cemetery

February 16, 2026 -- Washington Cemetery -- Fort Smith, AR

Six inches of snow stood there just three weeks before, but on the third Monday in February - Daisy Gaston Bates Day in Arkansas - the weather at Fort Smith's Washington Cemetery was 70° with a cool breeze and bright sunshine all day.

We sometimes venture beyond our building downtown to see how folks in our region - Arkansas's Sebastian, Crawford, and Franklin Counties and Oklahoma's Sequoyah and Le Flore counties, collect, preserve, and share history and culture. We'll call this Finding History, and share our observations with you here.

This year, we commemorated the life and work of Arkansas's own Daisy Gaston Bates, acknowledged Black History Month, and appreciated preservation of local history in Washington Cemetery. This quiet northside burial place was formalized in the 1940s, but has served as a designated Black and African American citizens and residents of Fort Smith for much longer.

Gravestones dating from the antebellum period up through 2025 are maintained in this sacred land. Dozens of silk flower arrangements adorned the graves and memorial plots. Unattached petals and leaves lay scattered across the grass, loosened from dulled plastic stems by the weather of many seasons.

Children played and laughed in the adjacent apartments across North 54th Street. Horses are kept just about a quarter mile up the road. Animal tracks were visible in the soft ground beneath the witness trees on the cemetery's far north side. Though the cemetery sits less than a mile from I-540, you could imagine it surrounded for miles by the region's rolling hills and rich river valley earth with little evidence of the speed and urgency of the 21st century.

Cemeteries are spaces to reflect on the past, connect with ancestors - whether blood relations or kin of another kind. We go and gather there to pay respects, honor the memory of those passed on, and preserve legacies for our successors.

Subscribe to FSMH Newsletter

Become a Museum Member