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 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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