Little Rock Central High School NHS

We left Hot Springs the morning of June 15th and drove 30 miles up the road to Little Rock to see the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site.  This is the place where in 1957 is the location where Daisy L. Gatson Bates quoted, "Any time it takes 11,500 soliders to assure nine Negro children their constitutional rights in a democratic society, I can't be happy."  Bates was the chapter president for the NAACP and civil rights activist.

Web Photo

The Little Rock Nine

This National Historic Site is about the Little Rock Nine - a group of nine black students who enrolled at an all-white high school - their attendance testing the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, a 1954 Supreme Court ruling declaring segregation in school unconstitutional.

Chronology of Events in 1957:

• Sept 2 - Gov. Faubus order National Guard to bar African Americans from school for their "safety".
• Sept 3 - On first day of school mob gathers and the Little Rock Nine (the nine black students) do not appear.
• Sept 4 - Guardsmen bar black students from entering school.  Elizabeth Eckford is turned away and harassed by a mob.
• Sept 20 - Federal judge rules against use of National Guard to block students.  Little Rock police are given responsibility for protecting the students.
• Sept 23 - Little Rock Nine enter the school; police can't maintain order.  Riot ensues and the students leave from a side entrance in a police car.
• Sept 24 - President Eisenhower federalizes Arkansas National Guard and sends 1,200 soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock.
• Sept 25 - African American students enter Central High escorted by soldiers.
• Sept 26 - Faubus appears on TV saying, "We are now an occupied territory".  101st Airborne Division leaves in November.  Little Rock Nine endure physical and verbal abuse throughout the year.
• May 25, 1958 - Ernest Green is the first African American to graduate from Central HS.  Green says, "It's been an interesting year.  I've had a course in human relations first hand".
• 1958 - Faubus temporarily closes schools, giving voters a choice: accept integration or reject it (which they do - thereby closing schools for the 1958-1959 school year).
• 1959 - Federal court declares closing unconstitutional.  Schools reopen in August.  Three African Americans attend Central HS including Jefferson Thomas and Carlotta Walls.

The Visitors Center is held across the street with parking for both car and RV.  But, beware that you will be driving in downtown Little Rock on some narrower streets.  On the corner is the old Mobile gas station which was then a press area and now a Educational Center.  I was supposed to be on a tour with high school students, however, we had a very long drive so I wasn't able to although I did get a few photos of the Visitors Center.

Mobile Station in background
Central High School beyond that

This location was a very humbling place to be and yet part of our history.  I'm glad today, all men have equality of education and the chance for a brighter future.