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Although most school districts at
least attempted to integrate, some districts tried to avoid it,
particularly those in the South. One of the most famous cases of
integration was the story of the Little Rock Nine, which took place in
Little Rock, Arkansas. Governor Orval Faubus had the National Guard block
nine black students from entering Central High in Little Rock because he
didn’t want to integrate Little Rock’s schools. President Eisenhower heard
of this and sent Federal Troops to protect the nine black students.

Image of Thurgood Marshall
at http://members.aol.com/klove/blackhist.htm from Ken Love,
[email-masked], March 2001. Email
message

Fighting Back Against Faubus

On September 20, 1957, Judge Ronald N. Davies granted the NAACP
lawyers, Thurgood Marshall and Wiley Branton, the right to stop Governor
Faubus from using the National Guard to stop the students from entering
the high school. Governor Faubus finally agreed with them about not using
the National Guard, but he wished the nine would stay away from Central
High until integration could occur without violence. He knew there would
be violence because of the violence last time when the Whites beat the
Blacks because they didn't want African-American kids in their school.

Images of Central Nine and
Protesters at http://www.cnn.com/US/9709/24/little.rock

Off to School

On Monday, September 23, 1957, the nine students set off for the high
school. They knew there would be violence so they went in the rear
entrance. White mobs were there to protest because they didn’t want any
Blacks in their school and the reporters were there in support of the
Blacks. White mobs that were waiting for the nine students beat up black
reporters because they didn’t want them near their school. When the mob
heard the nine students had entered the school they went crazy. The black
students left out the rear exit right when the mob came in so they
wouldn’t get hurt.

Image of Central Nine and
Federal Marshalls at http://www.cnn.com/US/9709/24/little.rock

To make sure that the students completed a successful day of school,
President Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock.
Each student had their own patroller to walk with them to school and
during school, but Whites still beat them. They stabbed Melba Patillo and
sprayed acid into her eyes. If it weren’t for the 101st patroller throwing
water over her eyes she would have been blind for the rest of her
life.

After a few weeks, the patrollers left and the nine students had to
protect themselves. Finally Christmas came around and the Blacks wanted to
get away from the Whites. Eight of the nine students couldn’t be happier
to get a break from school, but not Minnijean Brown. She was suspended for
dumping her lunch on two white males because they were insulting her. The
Whites told the press that they didn’t blame her for getting mad. She was
suspended for 6 days. Then she was suspended again for calling a white
girl, "White Trash." None of the Whites were
suspended.

Click on the TV  to see
a video of the Little Rock
Nine.

Video of Little Rock Nine
at
http://www.cnn.com/US/9709/24/little.rock/little.rock.mov

Faubus Fights Again

The other eight all finished the school year successfully, and Earnest
Green Graduated that spring. He was the first black student ever to
graduate from Central High.

Although Earnest Green graduated, segregationists in Arkansas wanted to
stop the other seven remaining students from doing the same. The school
board asked for an injunction delaying integration until 1961. Even though
the injunction was granted at first, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals
said no to the injunction in August of 1958. The court told Little Rock it
must integrate.

Governor Faubus had other plans. He signed a package of segregation
bills that were passed by the Arkansas legislature, including a bill that
granted him the power to shut down the Little Rock Public High
Schools.

Just a few weeks later, the parents of the nine black students came
under tremendous pressure. The families either were forced to resign from
their jobs or were fired because of what was happening at the school. One
of the families moved away. The five students that remained in Little Rock
took courses from the University of Arkansas while they waited for their
school to reopen.

The summer of 1959 came and the act that
Governor Faubus had used to shut down the school was declared
unconstitutional. Yet again Governor Faubus started to work on another law
to take its place. To avoid the law, the school board opened up the school
early on August 12, 1959. Only two Blacks that were assigned to Central
High were members of the original Little Rock nine, Jefferson Thomas and
Carlotta Walls. The other three went to the new Hall High. Both Jefferson
Thomas and Carlotta Walls graduated that spring.

This story shows you how hard Whites would work to stop Blacks from
integrating and how far Blacks will go until equality is won. Melba
Patillo now teaches at Central High School. Forty years ago she was beaten
and stabbed. It went so far that she had acid thrown in her eyes. Now she
gets hugs from students there, black and white alike. Today, the school is
sixty percent black.

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