[3] It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area.

On July 27, 1954, the school board, including President Howard Madison Orsburn, George Hairston, Archibald Schaffer, Herbert Shumate, and Homer Keith, unanimously voted to "disband the Colored School and admit the Colored children into the grade and high school when classes open for the fall semester."

Accordingly, when the schools opened on August 23, 11 black children were in attendance alongside 480 whites.

[6] School Superintendent Woodie Haynes made an agreement with the local press not to cover the event, and stonewalled any outside reporters that asked questions.

[7] The decision to integrate had financial benefits, as the district had been paying a considerable sum to transport black high school students to Fort Smith, and were able to close the old Rosenwald school.

In 1961, the first two black students to graduate from Charleston were Barbara (Williams) Dotson and Joe Ferguson.

[4] As of the 2020 United States census, there were 2,588 people, 997 households, and 639 families residing in the city.