Little Rock Nine 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

(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 fourteenth amendment is also known as equal protection clause. Under the fourteenth amendment, the U.S. Constitution prohibits the states from denying a person that lives in the state the equal rights of the law (LII, 2017). The fourteenth amendment applies to education, especially those that are English language learners (ELL), this means that these students cannot be denied the same rights as non-English language learners. In the Supreme Court case of Lau v Nichols in 1974, this case involved a Chinese American student that attended the San Francisco Unified School District, this student was placed into a general education classroom despite the lack of being proficient in English (Wright, 2010). The school in which this student attended was found in violation, the school was giving ELL students the same material as all other students who speak proficient English and expected the Chinese American student to be able to comprehend the information that is being taught. School districts need to provide the same material, but in a modified form where the student’s will be able to access the information to learn it in the same manner as those non-English language learners.

The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine black students who enrolled at formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in September 1957. Their attendance at the school was a test of Brown v. Board of Education, a landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. On September 4, 1957, the first day of classes at Central High, Governor Orval Faubus called in the Arkansas National Guard to block the black students’ entry into the high school. Later that month, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into the school.

Melba Patillo was kicked, beat up, and had acid thrown in her face. At some point during school white students burned an African-American effigy in a vacant lot across from the school.

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 Little Rock Crisis was a typical example of southern resistance on Brown II order and it also get world attention. In September 1957, nine African American students enrolled at Central High Scholl in Little Rock which is all white only school. “On September 2, the night before school was to start, Governor Orval Faubus called out the state's National Guard to surround Little Rock Central High School and prevent any black students from entering.” As suggestion, the nine students did not show up on the first day.

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

Twentieth Century America, more specifically the year of 1957. We have come so far since, then It was many years of ups and downs; furthermore, there are some years perceived to be its most defining but the one that is most prevalent is 1957 due to the growth, overcoming of obstacles, and inventions. This year is unique or “the most defining” because political and cultural actions happened such as a walk out of a high school in Arkansas, a race to get to space first and the invention of the Frisbee.

In early October, the Mother’s League of Central High and racist white students planned to have a “walk out” of school, to protest integration. Almost 200 kids participated, but some of them had gotten a bad feeling about it when they saw not many people were joining in. The ones who left the school went to a park near the school, where they hung up a black-looking straw dummy. They all took turns beating the dummy, kicking it, stabbing it, and then eventually burning it while other kids cheered. Some boys held Confederate Flags while they burned and beat the black dummy. None of the hostile kids were questioned by the police or in trouble by the school.

Board of Education decision was delivered in 1954. Oliver L. Brown first filed a suit against the Topeka Board of Education in 1951. He was upset because he attempted to enroll his daughter, Linda, at Sumner Elementary School, which was a white school, because it was only seven blocks away. However, because of the segregation laws in the South that required segregation in all public facilities, including schools, Linda Brown was forced to attend Monroe Elementary School. This school was four miles away from her home and she had to walk for an hour and twenty minutes before she reached her school (Urofsky 276). Oliver went to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for help after Sumner Elementary turned him away. The NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund looked at this case and felt that they were ready to challenge legalized segregation. They reached the Supreme Court in 1953. The Supreme Court Justices finally delivered their decision on May 17, 1954 (Urofsky 281).

Board of Education. This case was filed against Topeka, Kansas school board by Oliver Brown. Oliver Brown was a parent of one of the children that were refused access to Topeka’s white schools. Oliver Brown challenged the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause because the black schools were never equal to the education of the white schools. The federal district court dismissed the claim, and said that the segregated public school was “substantially” equal enough to the public white school. Brown now brought the case to the Supreme Court. The Court made the decision that the segregated schools were violating the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause in the Fourteenth Amendment. They decided that a good education must be available to both blacks and whites. A year later, in the second part of the case, the Supreme Court ordered all schools to integrate as quickly as

Taking a bus to Little Rock gives you the freedom to absorb the scenic views and enjoy the company of the person you are with. In essence, it lets you spend quality time with your loved ones without the distraction of having to keep your attention on the other drivers on the road. GOGO Charters, a charter bus company, exists so that they can take people to cities across the country. The advantage of hiring a bus company is how they will do the legwork for you. Because many of the bus drivers have been traveling for long periods, they know how to point out the best destinations in the city.

The desegregation of public facilities began with the decision of Brown vs Board of Education in 1954, where the Supreme Court of the United States deemed segregation unlawful and unconstitutional. The country was told that desegregation was to take place "with all deliberate speed". This angered the white community. Violent retaliation was the means used to prevent the integration of blacks into various public facilities. In fact, the Autherine Lucy case demonstrated to the entire country that violent mobs could halt integration demanded by a federal court order. However, three years later, the Little Rock Crisis would affirm that if provoked by mobs, the executive

US Supreme Court deems segregation unconstitutional following the case of Brown VS Board of Education of Topeka. On May 17, 1954, the supreme court ordered all schools to integrate. The supreme court announces a second ruling ordering all public schools to be integrated "with all deliberate speed" (qtd. in History.com Staff. "Integration"), following the widespread resistance to the original integration orders. The first school to be integrated was Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas on September 4, 1957. The integration of Central High School transformed education in America by being the first school to be integrated, opening the door for other schools to integrate, and gaining equality in education.