InArkansas.com

Born on Big Dixie Plantation in 1926, Laverne Feaster will discuss her childhood spent on this eastern Arkansas cotton plantation during the Depression.

She will also share her experiences of the private schools of the day. Attending private school allowed Feaster to advance beyond the eighth grade education available in the segregated public school system where her mother taught.

Laverne Feaster graduated from Arkadelphia Cotton Plant Presbyterian Academy in Cotton Plant and received higher education from Swift Presbyterian Junior College in Rogersville, Tennessee, before earning a bachelor's degree from Tennessee State University in Nashville and a master's degree from the University of Arkansas - Fayetteville.

She taught in eastern Arkansas high schools from 1950 to 1963. In 1963 Feaster began a 29- yearcareer with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service serving as a district agent and becoming the first African-American woman in the United States to hold the position of State Leader of 4-H.

She was also appointed by Governors Clinton and Tucker to the Commission for Arkansas' Future and the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission.

Admission to Brown Bag Lunch Lectures is free. Participants are encouraged to bring a sack lunch; beverages are provided. For more information call (501) 324-9685 or visit www.oldstatehouse.com.