Little Rock Integration

Nine teenagers huddled together as they walked to class on a crisp morning in 1957. They were ready to start their first day at Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas. They never made it into the classroom that day. The National Guard blocked their entrance. A lynch mob crowded around, yelling obscenities, threatening their lives. The crowd didn't want them at their school because their skin was a different color.

When these nine students took their first steps on the Central High campus, they were trying to end their second class citizenship. They were fighting for the opportunity to go to a prestigious high school, just like the other kids in their community. They wanted access to a good education and a good future, rights decreed to them by the 1954 Supreme Court ruling that declared separate educational facilities as inherently unequal and a violation of the constitution.

Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas, opposed this 1957 integration. He claimed concern that this integration would incite chaos or start riots. He ordered The National Guard to occupy the school, saying their presence would prevent violence. His opposition and public statements about potential violence may have planted a seed that had not existed before. The federal government stepped in. President Eisenhower ordered the elite 101st Airborne Division to enforce the integration. Three weeks later, the nine students returned to Central High, a place where they were clearly not welcome.

Many were involved in the Central High integration, starting a chain of events that altered the course of history. Some had worthy goals, others hid their racism behind the veil of maintaining order, and others openly opposed integration. In the 1958 yearbook, the principle of Central High wrote that ""the graduating Class of 1958 will always stand out in my memory because...the class as a whole reacted so admirably to the shock of having the eyes of the world focused on the school...and the class united in a very cooperative way to leave a fine record of achievement in Central in a year that will no doubt be mentioned in history books for a long time to come."

Melba Beals also wrote about the integration. She was one of the nine students who tried to get an education at Central High for the first time in 1957. Melba's account doesn't describe admirable cooperation. Her memoir chronicles the intense violence and hatred that she and the other eight students endured every day they attended this school. Melba should have been singing Peggy Sue with Buddy Holly, or getting dressed up for a party. Instead she spent her free time mapping out safe routes to class, developing strategies for protecting herself against the other students, and praying that the next day would be better. She tried to ignore the racial slurs and chants, "two, four, six, eight, we ain't gonna integrate." Students stepped on Melba's heels until they bled, thrust knives at her throat, and threw flaming wads of paper at her. There was no safe place for black students at Central High. Those who did sympathize with the nine black students were threatened themselves and backed off. The teachers and administration offered little protection.

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