History of Little Rock Central High School
Personalities of the 1957 Crisis
African-American Education in Arkansas
Photo credits: Governor Orval Faubus, 1957(Photo courtesy of the Arkansas History Commission, G1775 series); Daisy Bates and several of the Little Rock Nine outside her home, 1957. (Photo courtesy of the Arkansas History Commission, G1775 series); Segregationists march on Central High School, 1957 (Photo courtesy of the Arkansas History Commission, G1775 series); Elizabeth Eckford encounters a mob a Central High School, September 1957 (Photo by the Arkansas History Commission, G1775 Series); Little Rock Nine enter Central High School under the protection of the 101st Airborne, September 25, 1957 ( Photo courtesy of the Arkansas History Commission, G1775 series).
"All the World is Watching Us:"
Little Rock Central High School and the 1957 Desegregation Crisis
Introduction:
While Little Roc
k Central High School has had a long history, it is most remembered for what occurred on the campus during the 1950s. The school became a symbol of the end of the racially segregated public schools in the United States, and was the site of the first important test for the implementation of the United States Supreme Court's historic Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision of May 17, 1954. Events in the fall of 1957 drew international attention as Little Rock became the epitome of state resistance. Arkansas Governor Orval E. Faubus directly questioned the sanctity of the federal court system and the authority of the United States Supreme Court's desegregation ruling while nine African-American high school students sought an education at the all-white Little Rock Central High School.
The controversy in Little Rock was the first fundamental test of the United States resolve to enforce African-American civil rights in the face of massive southern defiance during the period following the Brown decisions. When President Dwight D. Eisenhower was compelled by white mob violence to use federal troops to ensure the rights of African-American children to attend the previously all-white school, he became the first presidents since the post-Civil War Reconstruction period to use federal troops in suppor
t of African-American civil rights. As a result, the eyes of the world were focused on Little Rock in 1957 and the struggle became a symbol of southern racist reaction, as Governor Faubus's actions created a constitutional crisis.
History of the Crisis:
On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. In August of 1954, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) petitioned the Little Rock School Board for immediate integration of their schools. In response, the school board stated that "until the Supreme Court of the United States makes its decision...more specific, [the] Little Rock School District will continue with its present program." With this statement the school board ensured that they would not desegregate the schools of the city quickly. The NAACP, led by Arkansas lawyer Wiley Branton, petitioned the school board to "take immediate steps to reorganize the public schools under your jurisdiction in accordance with the constitutional principle annunciated by the Supreme Court."
In 1955, responding to further Supreme Court rulings and re-argument of the Brown v. Board case (known as Brown II), the Little Rock School District adopted a plan of gradual integration called the Blossom Plan (named for the Little Rock School District superintendent, Virgil T. Blossom). It called for desegregation to begin at the high school level in September of 1957. Lower grades would be gradually integrated over the following years. While local, state, and federal governments were trying to figure out ways to desegregate schools, groups of citizens formed to fight segregation. One group, headed by several mother's of Central High School students formed the Mother's League of Central High School to oppose desegregation.
The first test came in 1956, when 27 African-American students attempted to register in an all-white Little Rock schools, but were turned down. Instead, they were told to attend school in the newly opened Horace Mann High School. Superintendent Blossom assured the student's parents that he wanted to be "kind" to these students, but one NAACP representative said that the superintendent's actions were "more like the old run-around deception, than an honest and conscientious plan of the school board to integrate the schools." As a result, the NAACP filed a lawsuit on behalf of the African-American students who were denied entrance to white schools in Little Rock. In Cooper v. Aaron, the NAACP stated that their objective in filing the suit "was to secure the prompt and orderly end of segregation in the public schools. We want all children, regardless of race, to have the opportunity to go to the public schools nearest their homes." The lawsuit was dismissed and a federal judge declared that the Little Rock School Board had acted "in good faith," but the judge retained federal jurisdiction over the case.
As desegregation of Little Rock's schools grew closer, the Arkansas State Legislature approved four "segregation bills" in early 1957. These bills created the State Sovereignty Commission (House Bill 322) to investigate those encouraging integration, removed the mandatory school attendance requirement at all integrated schools (House Bill 323), required the registration of certain individuals and organizations, such as the NAACP (House Bill 324), and authorized school boards to use school funds to fight integration (House Bill 325). In addition, the legislature also placed a three percent sales tax on the election ballot to ensure that more money would be spent toward fighting integration.
T
he Capital Citizens Council issued a statement in mid-1957 that supported segregation: "The Negroes have ample and fine schools here and there is no need for this problem except to satisfy the aims of a few white and Negro revolutionaries in the local Urban League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People." Other members of the Capital Citizens Council gathered in the summer of 1957 to plan their fight against desegregation. They ran advertisements in newspapers that included the following questions: "At social functions would Negro males and white females dance together? Would Negro students join clubs and travel with whites? Would Negro and white students use the same rest rooms?"
In the midst of the growing turmoil in August of 1957, the governor of Georgia came to Arkansas and held a state-wide meeting to oppose desegregation. He praised the Arkansans who supported the concept of the right of a state to oppose the federal government (also called "state's rights"). He also met with the Capital Citizens Council and Governor Faubus to show his support for their efforts.
On the morning of September 2, 1957, Governor Faubus ordered units of the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine African-American students from entering Little Rock Central High School. In a televised speech, he proclaimed that it was to prevent violence and protect the students. The nine students were told by the Little Rock School Board to stay away from the school for their safety because the governor had heard rumors that white supremacists were headed for Little Rock.
On September 3, 1957, the Mother's League of Central High School held a sunrise service at the school. It was attended by members of another segregationist group, the Capital Citizens Council, angry parents of white students, and local religious figures. The crowd sang " Dixie," flew the Confederate battle flag, and praised Governor Faubus. Despite the protest, federal Judge Ronald Davies issued his ruling that desegregation would continue the next day. In response, Governor Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to stay at the school.
The nine African-American students attempted to enter Little Rock Central Hi
gh School and were turned away by the Arkansas National Guard on September 4. Several of the nine gathered at the south side of campus, but Elizabeth Eckford Eckford found herself surrounded by an angry mob on the north side of campus. Walking through the mob, Eckford sat alone at a bus stop bench and waited to go to her mother's work. Later, she remembered, "I tried to see a friendly face somewhere in the mob - someone who maybe would help. I looked into the face of an old woman and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked at her again, she spat on me." At least one sympathetic member of the crowd, Dr. Benjamin Fine, a white reporter from New York, sat down beside her and said, "Don't let them see you cry." The following day, none of the nine students attempted to re-enter the school and the Little Rock School Board requested that desegregation be temporarily halted.
In the following days, Governor Faubus appeared on national television to reaffirm his belief in segregation. He also met with President Dwight Eisenhower and "assured the President of [his] desire to cooperate with him in carrying out the duties resting upon both of [them] under the Federal Constitution." Meanwhile, Federal Judge Ronald Davies began legal proceedings against the governor and several Arkansas National Guardsmen for interfering with integration. Under federal court order, Governor Faubus removed the troops, left the state for a governor's conference while the city police had to try and keep order at the school.
On September 23, the nine African-American students (after facing a crowd of over 1,000 white protestors), entered Little Rock Central High School. An anonymous man commented, "They've gone in...Oh, God, [they] are in the school." Melba Patillo Beals, one of the nine, remembered the moment, "I have long dreamed of entering Central High. I could not have imagined what that privilege could have cost me."
White students had mixed reactions to the nine African-American students. Several jumped out of windows to avoid contact with the students. Others commented, "That was the first time I'd ever gone to school with a Negro, and it didn't hurt a bit."
Outside the school, African-American journalists who covered the story were harassed and physically attacked. They escaped the mob and took refuge elsewhere in Little Rock. President Eisenhower was "disgusted" when he heard about the rioting and ordered in federal troops to contain the chaos. Over 1,000 members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, the "Screaming Eagles," from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, came to Little Rock. The Arkansas National Guard troops at the school were then placed under federal command. Observing the soldiers, thepresident of the Arkansas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and mentor to the nine students, Daisy L. Gatson Bates, commented that "any time it takes 11,500 soldiers to assure nine Negro children their constitutional rights in a democratic society, I can't be happy."
Finally, on September 25, the nine students were escorted back into Little Rock Central High School. That day, General Edwin Walke
r of the U.S. Army addressed the white students in the auditorium, "You have nothing to fear from my soldiers, and no one will interfere with your coming, going, or your peaceful pursuit of your studies." When they arrived, the student body reaction was once again mixed. One student commented that "if parents would just go home and let us alone, we'll be all right...we just want them to leave us be. We can do it."
Click here to learn more about events during the 1957-1958 school year.