Little Rock Nine Essay

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

The multiple forces in favor of integration were determined to gain access to Central High School and integrate public schools in the south. Before any integration was possible in the United States, the NAACP, or the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was forced to file a lawsuit in the Federal District Court to integrate public schools immediately due to the public and state backlash towards integration (Beals 20). Judge Ronald Davies declared that Governor Faubus had “thwarted the court-approved plan of integration” furthering the movement to integrate Central High (Beals 68). After the lawsuit was settled, the Little Rock Nine was scheduled to integrate into Central High School. However, even after these

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.

The Little Rock 9 were just normal black kids, but back in their time, no black kids were normal. There were no black kids allowed in any school except for the raggedy ones that were built for them. They didn’t get what the “normal” people got. White was the only thing that these people knew back then. White was the only “right” thing. These nine black kids were the first kids to try and attend the Central High School in Little Rock, AR (that is where they got the name from “Little Rock” 9) .

Little Rock Nine was known for being nine African American students who went to Little Rock’s all-white Central High School in the fall of 1957. They were sent there because of their “academic excellence and willingness to become racial pioneers.” says The Struggle for Freedom: A History of African Americans. The students were told that the National Guardsmen was going to be there that morning but on September 4th, they soon found out that the National Guardsmen was not there to protect the nine of them from angry white citizens, but to block them from getting into the school. On September 4th they were not successful in enter the school But the nine of them were determined and were not want to give up. So the following day, Daisy Bates, head of the NAACP’s local branch, arranged for them to meet to walk to the school together. One of the students named Elizabeth Eckford, did not have a phone in her home so she did not receive the memo. While she walked to school alone angry crowd of whites surrounded her, when she arrived to the school all alone. She was scared and confused all at once, so she sat tensed up on a bench. Luckily a white woman intervened and walked Elizabeth to safety. The other eight students made it to the school together and was turned around again

Therefore, Faubus took away the troops and let them go to school, but it wasn’t a happy beginning for some of the students. For instance, Melba Patillo told the “New York Times” that she was “kicked, beaten, and had acid thrown in her face” (History). Even with the hate slurs and abuse thrown at the nine teenagers, they were all able to go to Central High and get an education they deserved. With Ernest Green being the oldest, he was the first “African American to graduate of Central High” (History). Faubus was furious when he heard this, so as of “September of 1958,” he officially closed the “Little Rock’s high schools” for the entire year “to prevent African Americans from attending” (History). Although the other eight students had to go to different high schools to complete their education, they still integrated Central High when they were going

On September 4, 1957, Governor Orval Faubus, who appeared to have sympathized with the black activists, went out of his way to defy a court order to call in the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine African American students—now known as "The Little Rock Nine"--from entering a building. Ten days later, in a meeting with President Eisenhower, Faubus agreed to instead use the National Guard to protect the African American teenagers. But on returning them to Little Rock, he went against his word and dismissed the troops, leaving the African American students exposed to an angry white mob. Within hours, the jeering, brick throwing mob had beaten several reporters and smashed many of the school's windows and doors. By noon, local police were forced to evacuate the nine students.

The Little Rock Nine faced many struggles, and dealing with the Governor of Arkansas was one of them. As Elizabeth Eckford recalled in her interview with Facing History and Ourselves, she “walked further down the line of guards to where there was another sidewalk,” but when she “stepped up, they crossed rifles” (Eckford). She was informed the night before that there would be guards at the door, but she thought it was to protect them. This didn’t seem to be the case for her, though, because after trying three times to enter the school, she was led by a soldier into the crowd of angry people, shouting for her to leave. She said that they, “to [her] ears sounded like a mob” (Eckford). This was society’s first reaction to the Little Rock Nine,

Little Rock Nine is to provide economic support and a program for students to help them reach their scholarship goals. The supreme court issued Brown vs. Board of education on May 17,

During that time the nine students experienced horrible torment and bullying from not only students, but also parents (source #1).They went to the school after the Supreme Court’s decision that segregated schools was unconstitutional (source #1). Orval Faubus (the Governor of Arkansas) ordered the Arkansas to the school to stop the nine students from entering, eventually after the situation had gone on far enough, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army (African American members of the unit did not join their white counterparts until one month after they had originally gone to Arkansas) (source #1 and #4). At the same time President Eisenhower did this he federalized the Arkansas National Guard putting all 10,000 members of it directly under the President’s control, meaning that Orval Faubus no longer had control over the National Guard (source #1). The 101st’s role was to protect the nine African American students from anyone in the school that wanted to hurt them (source #1).

Living in the 21st Century, it is difficult to imagine a time in the history of the United States that black students could not attend the same public schools that white students attended. In his famous speech, “I Have a Dream,” Dr. Martin Luther King said, “I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day, right there in Alabama, little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” Desegregation, in the southern states, especially Arkansas, did not come without a price to Dr. King as well as nine black students

The crisis of Little Rock finally saw Eisenhower intervene, when 9 black children attempted to enter Little Rock Central High School in 1957 and were met with hostility, protesters, and above all, racism. The Governor of Arkansas, Orval E. Faubus, had no intention of complying with the Brown verdict; he wanted to give the impression of standing firm on the issue of segregated schools as he was coming up to a re-election, so barred the way using the Arkansas National Guard. Eisenhower later put the 10,000 troopers of the Arkansas National Guard under federal control - the same troops that barred the way now ended up keeping white protesters back and escorting the black children into the school. Although the Brown case was a victory for black civil rights, the resulting chaos with Little Rock showed just how far they still had to go in terms of the deep racism that was still in the white people of the south.

Little Rock Central High School was one of many segregated schools in America, where only whites were able to attend. In 1957, nine African-American students enrolled for Little Rock Central High, and were expected to integrate the all-white school. Their enrolment was followed by an outburst and the “Little Rock Crisis”. The nine students, known as the “Little Rock Nine”, were refused from entering the school ground by Orval Faubus. This was undeterred from the rule put in place three years earlier, where the U.S Supreme Court stated that “school segregation was unconstitutional.” Arkansas Governor refused to allow the pupils to desegregate Central High, even dispatching the Arkansas National Guard to keep the students from entering the school.

7. Their entrance into the newly desegregated school sparked a nationwide crisis when Arkansas governor Orval Faubus in defiance of a federal court order. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in members of the U.S. Army 101st airborne division to escort them into the school on September 25, 1957, and they remained the rest of the school year. Carlotta Walls, Jefferson Thomas, and Gloria Ray attended Paul Laurence Dunbar Junior High School, while Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, Thelma Mothershed, Terrence Roberts, Minnijean Brown, and Melba Pattillo attended Horace Mann High School. (1) The Little Rock 9 faced both verbal and physical harassment from the students of the Little Rock Central. One of the nine, Minnijean Brown, was suspended and

Despite this, Little Rock High School unjustly refused to accept Black pupils. In 1957, when nine Black pupils tried to enter the school they were sent away by a large crowd and state troopers. This was reported to Eisen Howersuit, leader of the Federal Government at the time, he backed the pupils by sending in 11,000 of his troops to escort them in and out of school for a year. This was another positive step towards equality and there was a noticeable increase in integration within schools