Biography
Ward H. Rodgers was a Methodist minister, teacher and Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union organizer. He was arrested after addressing a union meeting in Marked Tree, Arkansas, in January 1935 and held in the Harrisburg jail. An all-white jury convicted him of criminal anarchy on January 21, and he received a six-month sentence and a $500 fine. He obtained bail while appealing. Officials jailed him again in Lepanto in February for speaking in the street, then dismissed that charge. His anarchy conviction was dismissed on March 3, 1936.
Daily Worker, January 21, 1935: Page 1’s January 20 Mark Tree dispatch says Rodgers was arrested the previous week after chairing a meeting reporting on a Washington agricultural-workers conference. It identifies him as a FERA schoolteacher, reports a charge of conspiracy to overthrow the government, transfer to a jail in an adjoining county, and threats of a planter lynch mob. These are attributed pretrial details within the existing January Arkansas prosecution, not a second conviction or release. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1935/v12-n018-Nat-jan-21-1935-DW-LOC.pdf
The February 22 issue linked the Southern Tenant Farmers Union organizer’s anarchy prosecution and pending appeal to his dismissal as a FERA instructor. This is additional organizing and employment context; it does not establish a new arrest, a completed appeal or six months actually served. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1935/v12-n046-Nat-feb-22-1935-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3
H.L.Mitchell recalls the MarkedTree meeting following the Washington delegation and prosecutor FredStafford arresting Rodgers after he introduced Rev.E.B.McKinney. It lists anarchy, attempting to overthrow Arkansas government and blasphemy allegations, and recalls eventual dismissal after several court terms. This is retrospective detail within the existing Arkansas prosecution; the account’s compressed description is not used to erase the separately documented initial conviction and appeal. Source: https://archive.org/download/csfst_006827/csfst_006827_access.pdf#page=7
Labor Defender, March 1935, PDF page 7: The article identifies him as an Arkansas Socialist Party state executive member, former FERA teacher and Southern Tenant Farmers Union organizer, facing a six-month imposed jail sentence and $500 fine on criminal-anarchy charges. The term is imposed punishment, not proof of completed service; this is the existing Arkansas prosecution. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1935/v11n03-mar-1935-orig-LD.pdf#page=7
