Little Rock Central High School Research Paper

In 1954, the Supreme Court took a step in history with the Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka by stating that, “In the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’, has no place. Separate facilities are inheritably unequal.” Little Rock, Arkansas a city in the upper south became a location of a controversial attempt to put the court order into effect when nine African American students were chosen to desegregate Central High in Little Rock. How did the Little Rock Nine affect America? Sanford Wexler stated in The Civil Rights Movement: An Eyewitness History,” its “effect would ripple across the nation and influence the growing Civil Rights Movement;” in addition, the Little Rock crisis forced the federal government

Throughout the 1950’s segregation and civil rights was a big problem, but in 1957 three years after the U.S Supreme Court ruled segregation of American schools unconstitutional with the case of Brown vs. Board of Education a huge uprising took place when nine African American students integrated an all white school, they would become known as the little rock nine. “The Little Rock Nine were recruited by Daisy Gaston Bates President of the Arkansas NAACP and co publisher with her husband L.C Bates of Arkansas State Press”( “Integration of Central High School”). Before any of the students started school they participated in intensive counseling sessions guiding them on what to expect once classes began an how to respond to hostile

The Supreme Court planned to desegregate schools. “In September 1957, nine black teenagers hoped to break a racial wall at a school in Little Rock, Arkansas.” (Benson 1). Ernest Green, Minnijean Brown, Melba Pattillo, Terrence Roberts, Elizabeth Eckford, Thelma Mothershed, Gloria Ray, Jefferson Thomas, and Carlotta Walls were the students who became the little rock nine. (Lucas 7). Daisy Bates planned to help them get to school. (Lucas 5). “Many White Southern Parents did not want the black students to go school with white children.” (Lucas 13). All the black students were excited for the first day of school. (Lucas 12).

Almost six decades have passed since Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, Jefferson Thomas, Terrence Roberts, Carlotta Walls Lanier, Minnijean Brown, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Thelma Mothershed and Melba Pattillo Beals entered Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. From there, The Little Rock Nine would forever be remembered as an essential part of history. These nine students were the first African Americans to go to an all-white high school. In 1896, the court case Plessy v. Ferguson declared that “separate but equal” would carry throughout the United States. This separated the schools, and other things, such as water fountains and buses, on the basis of color (Little Rock School Desegregation). The Little Rock Nine was a group of students

The Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public school systems violated the Constitution on May 17, 1954. The Courts decision faced great resistance from whites in the South. They threatened with violence, intimidation and other means as a reaction of the decision. After the decision, things were not easy and struggles remained. But through it all, it was victorious. The implementation (Brown II v. Board of Education) proved to be difficult. “Lawyers can do right, they can do good, but they have their limits. The rest of the job is up to society” (Patterson, 2001, pp

On September 1958 one year after Central High was integrated, Governor Faubus closed down Little Rock’s high schools for the entire year, pending a public vote to prevent African Americans from attending. At the end Little Rock citizens voted 19,470 against integration, to 7,561 and therefore the schools remained closed. After this happened none of the other Little ROck Nine stayed at Central High, instead the rest of the Little Rock Nine completed the year in other high schools across the country, and the Little Rock high schools didn’t reopen until in August

With the demanding African Americans wanting equal rights, enforcing desegregation in schools would clearly need presidential intervention. Dwight D. Eisenhower was president at this time and he did not agree with the Supreme Court’s decisions on the Brown v. Board of Education case. He did not want to force the states to integrate schools but had no choice because as president of the United State it was his job to so. Unwillingly, a school named Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas accepted their first set of African American students. They were called “the Little Rock Nine.” President Eisenhower eventually sent in the U.S. Army’s 101st airborne unit to escort the students to and from classes because the governor, Orval Faubus, called in Arkansas’ National Guard to prevent them from going to class. Despite being insulted, harassed, and assaulted the Little Rock Nine returned to school every day and of the end of the school year one of the nine students graduated from Central High School. The next school year, again Governor

On September 25, 1957 nine courageous children risked their lives to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Due to resistance by the state government and public hostility, federal troops were necessary to let nine African American children attend the school. Although the Supreme Courts Landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education cut down racial segregation in public schools, it was the actions of these nine young kids of school integration that tested the strength of that decision.

In 1957 Arkansas, a group of nine black students enrolled at an all-white Central High School, marking what is known as today as the Little Rock Nine. The U.S. Supreme Court declared desegregation of public schools due to the decision of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. On the first day of school, the Central High Principal called the Arkansas National Guard to block the black students from entering the high school. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into the school later that September.

Governor Faubus and majority of the white population did not support the integration of schools and believed that it would spark violence. Federal judge Richard Davies issued that there will be no change to the integration of Central High School and removed the Arkansas National Guard from the school. The first day of Central High School for these courageous nine colored students was September 4, 1957, but they didn’t start their full day of school until September 25, 1957. Bates drove the Little Rock nine to school but Elizabeth Eckford did not receive the carpool plans, so she arrived alone. Every day as the students went to school there would be a mob of up to one thousand apoplectic white men and women continuously harassing the Little Rock Nine from entering the school. On September 25, 1957, the Little Rock Nine started their first full day of class and the rest of the school year with twelve hundred troops of the United States Army’s 101st Airborne Division that President D. Eisenhower ordered to control 10,000 National Guardsman on

Because of this, many feared they would not be able to tolerate the severe pressures of the all-white school. As the pressure grew in Little Rock, the students were made to suffer a number of hardships before the school year even began. A number of whites went to court to try to appeal for an injunction on the integration process, but they were all strongly denied. Many of the black community strongly disagreed with the integration as well, insisting that the black students did not have the right to be amid the higher-class white students and that they would be out-of-place. The Little Rock School Board did as much as they could to restrict and limit the African-Americans as well. Knowing they could not prevent integration, the school board simply employed delay tactics on the new black students, excluding them from athletics and extracurricular activities. The school-board cited that this was because they were transferred students; however, it was quite evident that this was not truly the cause. Regardless, these nine, courageous students prepared to attend their first day at Central High on September 3, 1957. On September 2, 1957, the night before the nine black students were supposed to enter Central High, National Guardsmen enclosed the school in a wall of military force. In a nationally televised address the Arkansas Governor, Orval Faubus, rationalized that

However, it did not all end there, in February 1958, the Little Rock school board petitioned the local federal court to acclaim delaying their integration plan due to the board exclaiming that there was too much “chaos, bedlam, and turmoil” going on in Central High School, ever since the African American students enrolled. The court agreed along with them, ordering that the students need to be removed from the school and the integration plan should be postponed for two and a half years. Speaking for the little rock nine, the NAACP appealed the decision to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, and undoing the lower court’s decision and conveyed that the delay would violate the constitutional rights of African American students, which lead to the U.S Supreme Court to finally reviewing the case and later declaring that the African Americans will stay at Central High School and the school board must continue with the integration plan. Brown v. Board of Education provided the foundation for school integration during the 1950s and 1960s, while Cooper v. Aaron provided the

Faubus was able to achieve his goal in keeping the students out of the school, due to eighty-five percent of the Arkansas citizens being against integration. However, Faubus' actions were cut short by President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordering Arkansas National Guard out and sending in Federal Troops. The troops ensured the safety of the students in and around the school. In May of 1958, Ernest Green became the first African-American student to graduate from an integrated school. Later in the year, Faubus had all high schools shut down, preventing any further integration. Green was the only student from the Little Rock Nine to graduate through Central High School. The others graduated through other schools. By being the first integrated school in America, Central High School opened the door for many other schools to

The U.S. Supreme Court issued its historic Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, on May 17, 1954. Involved in the 14th Amendment, the decision declared all laws instating segregated schools to be unlawful, and it called for the desegregation of all schools throughout the nation. After the decision, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) attempted to register black students in previously all-white schools in cities throughout the South. In Little Rock, the capital city of Arkansas, the Little Rock School Board agreed to comply with the high court's ruling. Virgil Blossom, the Superintendent of Schools, submitted a plan of measured integration to the school board on May 24, 1955, which the board unanimously ratified. The plan would be implemented during the fall of the 1957 school year.

The five reports of school segregation separately went to local courts with no avail. The cases then appealed to the Supreme Court, where they were pooled under the title “Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas”. (Good, 31, 32) (Davidson et al. 850)