E8-P1 Wrightsville Boys Industrial School-Locked Doors, Lost Boys

It began as a promise and it ended in betrayal. In 1936, Arkansas built the Negro Boys’ Industrial School in Wrightsville, calling it a place for “wayward youth.” What they created was a prison farm for children. In this first episode, Tracey Carrington and Steve Nawojczyk uncover how decades of racism, neglect, and forced labor turned a so-called reform school into a deathtrap. With historian Dr. Brian Mitchell exposing the state’s pattern of segregation, juvenile-justice expert Judge Steve Teske explaining how the system failed these kids, and journalist Marlon Weems recalling life in Little Rock’s shadow of Jim Crow, the picture becomes chillingly clear. Lawmakers warned of fire hazards. Inspectors documented locked doors. Editorials begged the state to act. But no one did — until twenty-one boys burned to death inside.