Little Rock School Research Paper

How does one man defy the Supreme Court? After losing the battle of whether the integration of Little Rock could happen, Governor Orval Faubus did not want to give up. He decided that he would not continue to integrate, and instead, he would close Little Rock’s public high schools. Through closing the Little Rock schools, Governor Faubus inadvertently changed the Civil Rights Movement.

Three years after Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Little Rock’s Central High School would change forever. Minnijean Brown, Terrance Roberts, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Patillo, Gloria Ray, Jefferson Thomas, and Carlotta Wall were recruited by the president of the local chapter of the NAACP, Daisy Bates, to integrate the
On September 3, 1957, Bates and the students made a plan. They would meet up and go together. However, Elizabeth Eckford was not told of this. Furthermore, when she arrived at Central High School the following day, she had to face a crowd of protestors alone. The 15-year-old had threats screamed at her, including that she should be lynched. When Elizabeth turned to the Arkansas National Guardsman for help, she discovered that they were not there to help her (Roberts). Instead, they had been sent by the segregationist governor as opposition to the Supreme Court ruling. None of the nine children made it inside of the school that day. On September 23, 1957, the children were finally escorted into the building through a side entrance. But the triumph did not last long for the children, as they were pulled out of class over fears of retaliation by angry white students. By this time, the Little Rock Nine had gained national attention. After the public cried for justice for the nine students, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in