The “Little Rock Nine,” nine Black students who successfully integrated the all-White Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., remain a stellar example of the importance of standing up for what’s right. It took the determined efforts of this pioneering group and a presidential order to defy a sitting governor who refused to obey the law.
Earlier in 1957, the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregation was unconstitutional in the historic Brown V. Board of Education case. This set the stage for the NAACP and other groups to integrate all-White public schools, especially those in the south. The group enrolled nine students – Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, Jefferson Thomas, Terrence Roberts, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Minnijean Brown, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Thelma Mothershed, and Melba Pattillo Beals.
Then-governor Orval Faubus was furious at the notion that Black students would integrate the school, and ordered the state’s National Guard to block the students from entering. On September 4, 1957, the soldiers barred the students as segregationist Whites hurled racist insults at them. The images of the “Crisis At Central High” made national headlines and raised concerns among civil rights advocates. On September 24, 1957 President Dwight D. Eisenhower demanded that Gov. Faubus stand down and ordered a federal takeover of the military.
Eisenhower also ordered Army soldiers to escort the children to class, angering many who fought bitterly against integration. The students endured a year of hardship and abuse, including one of the students having acid thrown into her eyes and another almost set on fire. Brown eventually transferred to a school in New York.
By September of 1958, Faubus was able to close all four Little Rock high schools, shutting out both Black and white students. He did so by signing acts into law that gave him complete power over the Little Rock School District. He was able to convince the town to vote to privatize public schools in order to maintain segregation. Instead the schools were shuttered the entire school year.
Ironically, today, Little Rock Central High School, which still operates as a high school, is 56 percent Black. Only four of the nine graduated from Central. Green was the first African-American to graduate from the school in 1958. The Nine were honored in November 1999 by then-President Bill Clinton with the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest civilian award. All but Mr. Thomas of the Nine are alive. He died in 2010.
AFTER LITTLE ROCK:
Minnijean Brown went to school in New York and graduated there. She went on to graduate from Southern Illinois University and Laurentian University. She resides in Little Rock.
Elizabeth Eckford couldn’t complete high school as schools were closed by Faubus in her senior year. She got her GED in St. Louis, eventually graduating from Central State University in Ohio and works in law enforcement in Little Rock.
Ernest Green was the first Black person to graduate from Central High. He went on to become a powerful banker. He graduated from Michigan State and made Washington D.C. home.
Thelma Mothershed also graduated from Central High via correspondence classes after Faubus closed the schools in 1958. She attended Southern Illinois University, earning both her undergrad and master’s there. She lives in Little Rock.
Melba Pattillo Beals graduated from high school in California after she couldn’t go back to school in 1958. She attended San Francisco State, Columbia University in NYC, and got her PhD from the University of San Francisco. She resides in the Bay Area.
Gloria Ray Kalmark’s family moved to Kansas City, Mo. where she graduated in 1960 from the newly integrated Kansas City Central High School. She graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology and worked at ITT as a mathematician. Her studies led her and her husband to Sweden, and she worked in technology abroad until her retirement in 2004.
Terrence Rogers didn’t complete his senior year in 1958. His family moved to Los Angeles, where he graduated from the Los Angeles High School. Rogers earned his PhD from Southern Illinois University and resides in Pasadena.
Jefferson Thomas graduated from Central in 1960. He later attended Wayne State University while his family moved to Southern California. Thomas became an Army veteran, business owner, and speaker in his later years.
Carlotta Walls LaNier, the youngest of the Nine graduated from Central in 1960. She later graduated from the University of Northern Colorado, and still resides in the state. She wrote a book about her experiences at Central.
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