Biography:  Sidney Charles Bolton was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 18, 1943, and died in Little Rock, Arkansas on November 11, 2024. Charlie Bolton was a renowned historian and leading expert in Arkansas and Southern history. He was a terrific father who delighted in the conversation and adventures of his grandchildren. A fierce sense of American values inspired him to civic action as a historian and as a citizen. He served as an expert witness against creation science, wrote op-eds in support of racial justice, and worked for political candidates with progressive policies. He was a terrific dancer and had a great laugh.
Charlie died as he lived. He was felled by sudden heart attack after a weekend of seeing his friends, talking about politics, planning his next bike ride, and researching an article-in-progress on Arkansas’s economic history.
Charlie is survived by his sister Jill Bolton Middleton; three children, Conevery Bolton Valencius, Jesse Draper Bolton, and Lillie Jean Bolton; son-in-law Matthew G. Valencius and daughter-in-law Angela Anderson; and five grandchildren, Ilan Valencius, Casimir Valencius, Zara John Valencius, Marlowe Adeline Bolton, and Archer Jace Bolton. His wide and warm circle of family and friends included his former stepson William Thomas Dillard, III, and Bill’s mother Janet Ellis; Conevery and Jesse’s mother Susan French Hughes May, and Lillie’s mother Shannan Venable.
Son of Marjorie Draper Bolton and Franklyn Paul Bolton, Charlie was the middle child, between older brother Peter Jeffery Bolton and younger sister Jill Anne Bolton. As a child he attended a one-room schoolhouse outside of Elmira, New York. In high school, he worked as a soda jerk at Rexall Drug.
Charlie graduated from St. Lawrence University in 1965. He was elected president of student government and was named to the Omicron Delta Kappa leadership honor society.
He went on to earn an MA in 1968 and a PhD in American history in 1973, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Although he joined the Marine Corps briefly before being honorably discharged with a knee injury, he participated in student protests against US military engagement, including the 1969 Moratorium to the End the War in Vietnam.
In 1973, he and Susie moved their family to Little Rock, where Charlie became a faculty member at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He taught and wrote at UALR for 35 years, including several terms as History Department Chair.
Charlie published numerous books and articles. He began his career working on religion in American life, with Southern Anglicanism (1982). After he settled in Arkansas, he began to research the state’s history, writing Territorial Ambition: Land and Society in Arkansas, 1800-1840 (1993-American Association for State and local History Award of Merit) and Remote and Restless: Arkansas, 1800-1860 (1999). Work for a National Park Service project on people escaping enslavement led to his last book, Fugitivism: Escaping Slavery in the Lower Mississippi Valley, 1820-1860 (2020). He won the Arkansas Booker Worthen Literary Prize twice – for Remote and Restless and Fugitivism.
Charlie was committed to telling the history of people and places often overlooked. When Fugitivism was published, he was quietly proud to present his book at the Association for African American Life and History. He was similarly gratified that the Audible book reader for Fugitivism called him up to get the pronunciations right for spirituals quoted in the book.
Generations of students at UALR benefited from his commitment to teaching and telling important stories about the past. In his writing and in his classrooms, he paid keen attention to quantitative evidence and to people’s words—both those long ago and those across a table from him.
In 2018, Charlie received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arkansas Historical Association, as a “groundbreaking scholar and inspiring educator.”
In recent years he continued to publish on economic history and infrastructure in Arkansas. In 2024, he received the (COVID 19-delayed) Railway and Locomotive History Association Award for his 2021 Arkansas Historical Quarterly article “Missing the Train.”
Charlie’s love of life inspired generations of students as well as his family and many friends. Charlie was an instigating force in a once-a-month Thursday poker game that toasted its 35^th anniversary last October. He was a founding member of PAWPAC, the Progressive Arkansas Women Political Action Committee. He loved his dogs and was constantly puttering in his garden and yard. He and his grandchildren rode bikes, explored caves, watched the Tour de France, and talked about politics and movies. He subscribed to the New York Review of Books for fifty years. In retirement, he took up Iyengar yoga with the same determination with which he once ran the Booneville marathon.
Lillie’s artistic talent sparked his own interest in art, and he became a dedicated supporter of local artists. In the past few years, he went camping solo in Rocky Mountain National Park, took his son-in-law hiking, and hosted fabulous dinners, often with his close companion Bettina Brownstein.
A constant throughout Charlie’s life was his warm appreciation for the dear friends and colleagues with whom he enjoyed meals, shared experiences, and debated ideas. He cherished his long-time running and swimming partners from decades ago just as he did his post-retirement “history buddies.” Whether at the UALR cafeteria or Boulevard Bakery, he relished interesting exchanges and lively ideas.
Charlie touched many people with his wisdom and compassion. He was a scholar who influenced many others, but was deeply humble. He loved his work. After his retirement he frequently spent the entire day working at Milo’s coffee shop.
A visitation and memorial service will be Friday, November 15, 4-6pm, at Ruebel Funeral Home, 6313 West Markham Street, Little Rock. His family welcomes friends to an open house celebration at the family home on Saturday, November 16, from 2-6pm.
In Charlie’s honor, please support your local independent bookstore, coffeeshop, or bike store. Services under the direction of RuebelFuneralHome.com