Colleges and universities have a deep impact on not only their students but also the communities they call home. Southland College, located in Phillips County, had been such an institution, serving not only as one of the earliest colleges in the state but a pioneer in higher education for African-Americans.
Southland College began as an effort by Quakers to help the African-American community in the midst of the Civil War as part of their crusade against slavery. Quakers, also called the Society of Friends, had been the first religious group in the United States to condemn slavery. They considered slavery a sin and had been calling for its end since before the American Revolution. They continued their outspoken opposition in the years leading up to the Civil War.