The Little Rock Nine

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 to come down on state government in order to protect the rights of African Americans. In September 1957, nine African American high school students set off to be the first African American students to desegregate the all white Central High School. The six agirls and the three boys were selected by their brightness and capability of ignoring threats of the white students at Central High. This was all part of the Little Rock school board’s plan to desegregate the city schools gradually, by starting with a small group of kids at a single high school. However, the plan turned out to be a lot more complex when Governor Orval Faubus decided not to let the nine enter the school. Orval Faubus had never been enthusiastic about segregation, but he was running for reelection and wanted to get the vote of the extreme segregationists. Faubus went on television the night before school opened, and declared publicly that it would “not be possible to restore or maintain order….if forcible integration is carried out tomorrow.” The following day, two hundred National Guardsmen surrounded Central High and blocked the nine African American students from entering. Faubus had now openly defied court orders, which would bring the federal government