The Little Rock Nine 1957

Little Rock Central High School had been voted the most beautiful high school in America.  It is immense: it took me 3 pictures from across the block to capture the entire school.

It was three years after the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, which officially outlawed public school segregation.  A federal court had ordered Little Rock to comply.  In September of 1957 nine  African-American students were set to enroll.  However, on Sep. 1 Orval Faubus, Arkansas Governor, announced he would use National Guard troops to prevent their enrolling.

On September 4 the 9 students attempted to enroll, but were turned away by troops.  One of the most famous pictures from that day is of 15 year-old student Elizabeth Eckford being taunted by a white student, named Hazel Bryan Massery.  Because her family lacked a phone, she did not get the information that the Nine were supposed to meet with activist Daisy Bates (see below) and enter from the rear of the school.  She was thus attempting to enter alone.

On September 14 Faubus met with President Eisenhower, and six days later a court ordered the guard to be removed.  At that point local police took over and the Nine again tried to enter school.  Around the world television viewers watched as rioting broke out and the Nine students had to be smuggled out of the back of the school for their protection.   Finally, President Eisenhower sent in federal troops and the Little Rock Nine had their first day of school on September 25. 

However, that was only the beginning of the problems.  Student leaders pledged to obey the law, but throughout the year a group of white students verbally and physically harassed the Nine.  Finally, one of the Nine, Minnijean Brown, fought back and was expelled in February of 1958.

On May 25, 1958 Ernest Green became the first African-American to graduate from Little Rock High School.  He stated, “It’s been an interesting year.  I’ve had a course in human relations first hand.”  We heard that Martin Luther King, Jr. drove over from Montgomery to quietly observe the ceremony.

Faubus closed the school for the 1958-1959 school year.   When it re-opened by federal order in 1959, three African-Americans enrolled, including Jefferson Thomas and Carlotta Walls, of the original Little Rock Nine. 

An important mentor for the Nine was Daisy Bates.  She, and her husband, Lucius, provided their home as a drop off and pick up point for the Nine.  As a result, the home became a frequent target of violence and damage. We were able to find that home, which presently is unoccupied, with plans to make it into a museum.

In 1999 Presdient Bill Clinton, who grew up in Hope, Arkansas (100 miles from Little Rock), and who, at the age of 11, was aware of the violence in Little Rock, presented the highest civilian honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor, to the Little Rock Nine.

All of the Little Rock Nine are still alive except for Jefferson Thomas, who died in 2010.  About half of them have written books.  I am awaiting an autographed book by Carlotta Walls, to get a better idea of what exactly that first school year was like.  Another interesting book was recently written about Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan Massery.  Massery sought out Eckford in 1963 to apologize to her, and eventually they became friends, only to have that friendship dissolve.  It is a real-life look at the complicated dynamics of forgiveness and reconciliation.