William Herschel Hughes, educator, political thinker, and poet, was born in Sumner County, Tennessee, on March 6, 1882. His mother was a sister of John Hallum, a noted lawyer and Arkansas historian. Hughes' parents moved to Arkansas from Tennessee in 1886 and settled near Whitener, Madison County. Hughes began schooling in public schools which at that time were open only three months a year. He supplemented his education by attending Hindsville Academy, Hindsville, Arkansas. At the age of fourteen, Hughes successfully passed the examinations for a teaching certificate. He could not secure a teaching position though, because of his age. After receiving a diploma from the Pea Ridge Masonic Institute he taught for several years in a secondary boarding school in St. Paul, Arkansas. While teaching at West Fork, Arkansas, in 1915, he married Ruby Carroll, also a teacher. Three years later he became school superintendent at Huntsville, Arkansas. By 1918, Hughes was a correspondent for the Southwest American and the Arkansas Gazette, and he also served as editor of the Madison County Democrat. He took correspondence courses from the University of Arkansas and received a Master of Arts degree in English and history. After thirty years of teaching, the Great Depression forced Hughes to look for a more sustainable work so he left his teaching profession to go briefly into real estate. He was licensed as a real estate broker in 1936. Shortly after that, the Northwest Arkansas Times offered him a position and he wrote features for seventeen years until his retirement. He was considered one of the most knowledgeable men about Arkansas politics of his day. Hughes is the author of a book of poetry, Five Yellow Candles, which received favorable acclaim from the New York Times Book Review as well as many other newspapers.