Photo courtesy the Arbuckle family Emma Arbuckle (left) with son Willie and his wife, Gladys

Before Martin Luther King Jr. became famous, Chandler had its own Civil Rights activist: a widowed mother of five with a third-grade education who moonlighted as a midwife.

Emma Arbuckle moved from Oklahoma to Chandler in 1937 with her husband and children to work in the cotton fields. Her husband died soon after, but she somehow found time between raising five kids to fight for desegregation in Chandler schools.

At the time, no Chandler school admitted blacks. Younger black kids attended Washington Elementary School in Mesa, and teens had to commute an hour and a half to Carver High School in Phoenix. Chandler eventually established a black school, but it only went up to eighth grade.

Arbuckle and other black community leaders repeatedly petitioned the school board to allow blacks to attend Chandler High. In 1949, they finally won.

Arbuckle organized meetings to establish better relations between city government and minority neighborhoods, which led to those communities getting paved streets, electricity, water and other public services. She also helped start Chandler’s first public housing project.

After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Arbuckle calmed the outraged community by organizing a peaceful solidarity march through downtown Chandler. In addition, “Dr. Buckle” treated the sick using home remedies, raised money for local funerals, and acted as peacemaker when there were clashes in the community.

Arbuckle died in 1988 at the age of 85. Last year, city officials named Arbuckle Park (1100 S. Norman Way) in her honor.