Jo Hart Receives History Maker Award

Josephine Linker Hart accepted the Stone County Historical Society’s History Maker Award from Robbie Purdom in July.

As the first from Stone County to have been elected to the Arkansas Supreme Court, Retired Supreme Court Justice Josephine Linker Hart is being honored for her dedication and service to the people of Stone County and of Arkansas.

After graduating from college, she joined the U.S. Army and was deployed to Japan in 1966. There she was the administrative chief of a unit of 500 whose job was to sort all correspondence that went through the area, including the leaflets that were dropped over Vietnam. While in Japan, she was promoted to captain, and for a majority of her time overseas she was the only female officer. 

In 1969, she had been promoted to Colonel and transitioned to the Army Reserve, where she served until retiring in 1998.

She returned to Arkansas where she was one of only three women to enter the University of Arkansas Law School and was the only woman to actually practice law. Upon graduation, she accepted the position of Law Clerk for AR Supreme Court Justice Frank Holt. She served as a law clerk for three years before moving to Batesville where she opened a private practice. Her focus was to “be of service to the people” and centered on representing those whose land was being condemned or taken away. 

In 1998, she decided to run for the Arkansas Court of Appeals when she realized the man seeking the position had never even tried a case in the 19-county area. She had litigated cases in most of the counties and held that this experience had given her name recognition. Once elected she saw the benefits of being able to shape the law rather than litigate it.

She served on the Court of Appeals until 2012 when she was elected to the Arkansas Supreme Court, where she served until retiring in 2020.

She was married to the late Brook Hart, a native of Fox. 

“The Stone County Historical Society is proud to recognize her for her many accomplishments in her long judicial career,” Purdom said.