Little Rock Central High School Research Paper

The Little Rock Nine was a group of nine African American students who dared to challenge racial segregation in the public schools of Little Rock, Arkansas. This group, composed of Melba Pattillo, Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, Minnijean Brown, Terrence Roberts, Carlotta Walls, Jefferson Thomas, Gloria Ray, and Thelma Mothershed, became a strong icon in the struggle for early desegregation - especially in the South. In the summer of 1957, the Little Rock Nine registered at Little Rock Central High School, which had been a completely segregated school before then. After being warned not to come to school on the first day, they arrived at the high school on the second day. They were greeted outside the school by a large white mob, who was shouting, throwing stones, and threatening to kill the students. Orval Eugene Faubus, the governor of Arkansas, even went as far as sending two hundred seventy soldiers of the Arkansas National Guard to block the school’s entrance to prevent the students from entering. This act by the governor went against the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which declared segregating public schools as unconstitutional. The clash in Little Rock drew attention not just to racism and civil rights in the United States, but to the battle between federal and state power. Newspaper and television reporters devoted

Mark Strand once said,” Old ways won’t open new doors.” Strand meant that doing things the old way or having old things doesn’t give an opportunity for new beginnings and better things or ideas. The article titled “School Choice: Build New or Not?”, talks about unsafe and unhealthy environments that could impact the students and budgets. It is important to rebuild Lincoln Junior High School, built in 1923, in Plymouth, Indiana because it will give students more learning opportunities and fix some health/safety issues. Others believe that it is a better idea to renovate the school.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas was a milestone in American history, as it began the long process of racial integration, starting with schools. Segregated schools were not equal in quality, so African-American families spearheaded the fight for equality. Brown v. Board stated that public schools must integrate. This court decision created enormous controversy throughout the United States. Without this case, the United States may still be segregated today.

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

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.

(Lucas 31). Most white students didn’t pay attention to them, but others bullied them. (Lucas 32). Minnijean Brown one day lost her temper, and got expelled. On Sept. 1958 the supreme court ruled that all Little Rock public schools would be shut down that year. The Little Rock Nine received International Acclaim for their courage.Ernest Green was the first black student to graduate from Central high. Even though they broke a racial wall; the little rock nine didn’t bring immediate gains for civil rights. (Benson 2).

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

On May 17, 1954, the US Supreme Court in accordance with the United States Constitution, the fourteenth amendment, announced that the segregation of public schools is illegal. This is the first time that the United States has declared that the black segregation system is unconstitutional and unlawful. Prior to this, the black and white segregation system has long been affirmed and implemented, in almost all public places; black people are subjected to white segregation and unequal treatment. However, the black people have long been deprived of civil rights, not caused by 1954 Supreme Court’s decision alone. In early September 1957, the US District Court of Little Rock, Arkansas, under the 1954 Supreme Court's decision to abolish apartheid in