Sharon Fort becomes first African American to join a DAR branch in Arkansas

TEXARKANA, Ark. — Sharon Fort has always been ahead of the curve, and that was validated Thursday when she became the first African American to join a Daughters of the American Revolution branch in Arkansas.

Prior to the meeting, she held doubts on being a member of DAR, citing that she had never heard of any Black women as members, but Gale Markley, state regent of the Arkansas State Society, said the DAR embraces differences.

“We come from diverse ethnicities and backgrounds,” Markley said. “So we don’t all look the same, but we all have a common heritage and in that common heritage is a sisterhood.”

DAR members do share one thing in common — proof of an ancestor who participated in the American Revolution.

Fort was in her early 20s when she began to spend days on end at the public library’s computers, researching her family history, specifically for her African American ancestors who served in the war of independence.

It took a long time but eventually Fort was able to trace her family tree back to a son born in 1842 to an enslaved African American woman and the great-grandson of a white landowner who had furnished supplies in North Carolina during the American Revolution.

Markley, who said the first African American woman joined the group in 1977, presented Fort with her certificate of membership with a smile and an embrace after Fort completed her vows to the organization.

Fort had several guests at the event, including her children, a longtime friend and neighbor, a teacher, her sister and cousins. She cited nephew Lyle Gibson as being instrumental in her becoming a member of DAR.

Fort attended Booker T. Washington High School and was in the last class to attend the school before it was closed by federal mandate to end segregation. She then went to school at Arkansas High School, where she said she felt unwelcomed.

After high school, she went to Texarkana Business College and later began working for the federal government in 1998 as an office administrator. She founded the nonprofit God’s Helping Hand Ministries in the 2000s to help people suffering with mental health issues in Texarkana and in Ghana, western Africa.

“With this in mind, I returned to Texarkana Community College to pursue a study in drug and alcohol abuse counseling,” Fort said.

She graduated with an associate’s degree in applied sciences with an emphasis in drug and alcohol abuse counseling in 2008 and then a Bachelor of Science in psychology with a concentration in sociology.

The final feather in Fort’s cap came in 2012, when she received a master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies in psychology with concentrations in counseling and criminal justice. She is a licensed chemical dependency counselor in the state of Texas.

“I hope women of color will be inspired to know that all things are possible,” Fort said. “It is time to help remove the racial barriers that once hindered this nation from making progress, by joining the DAR organization.”

Gale Markley, state regent of the Arkansas State Society of Daughters of the American Revolution, presents Sharon Fort with her certificate of membership during an induction ceremony Thursday, Sept. 1 2022, at First United Methodist Church in Texarkana, Ark. (Staff photo by Mallory Wyatt)