On September 25, 1957, the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division was sent to escort nine African American students into an all-white Central High school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Three weeks prior, Governor Orval Faubus sent in the National Guard to surround the school to prevent the integration.[1] President Dwight Eisenhower sent in 1000 Paratroopers to Little Rock to enforce the integration that the Supreme Court had ordered.[2] In 1954 the Supreme Court unanimously decided against the previous decision it had made in Plessy vs. Ferguson in favor of Brown vs. the Board of Education, that segregating schools was unconstitutional. However, integration would not start until 1957.
In the fall of ‘57, 517 black students were eligible to attend the Central High school by living in the district. Only 80 of those black students were interested in attending the school, after an interview with those 80 students with the Little Rock School Board only 17 were selected to attend the school in the fall. Eight of the seventeen students decided to return to an all-black school leaving the last nine to be called the “Little Rock Nine”.[3] The nine students were Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford , Jefferson Thomas, Terrence Roberts, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Minnijean Brown, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Thelma Mothershed, and Melba Pattillo Beals. These nine students had to be escorted by the 101st Airborne everyday due to a constant protest outside of Central High. They were constantly bombarded with threats and taunts from anti-integration adults, and students in the school. They were treated this way the entire year, although the protests tapered off the Nine still had to deal with other students. Most of the Nine remained non-violent against the students and acted passively against the white students. Minnijean Brown was the only student that fought back, eventually leading to her suspension and dismissal from the school.[4]
The Little Rock Nine were trailblazers in the desegregation movement. The nine students stood up to bigots, mobs, threats, beatings and more scrutiny. The others, including Earnest Green, continued on and were first black students to graduate from Central High.[6] The Little Rock Nine, were inspirational in the movement to desegregate the country. They helped spring the national civil rights movement into action, improving the lives of blacks everywhere.
- Sam K. and Justin Z.
[1] “Central High School integrated,” The History Channel website, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/central-high-school-integrated (accessed Sep 19, 2013).
[2] “Central High School Integrated”
[3] “Central High School Integrated”
[4] “Central High School Integrated”
[5] “Central High School Integrated”
[6] “Central High School Integrated”
