Imagine that it's the night before your first day of High School. You're filled with excitement, fear and tension. You wonder what the school will be like. Will the classes be hard? Will the students like you? Will the teachers be friendly? You want to fit in. Your stomach is full of butterflies as you try to sleep and wonder what tomorrow will be like.
Now imagine that you are a black student in 1957 preparing to go to Little Rock Central High School to attempt what seemed impossible -- the integration of public schools. These students were aware of what the public thought of their entering into a "white" high school. They didn't worry about fitting in. Most whites, including the governor at the time, Orval Faubus, stood against them. Most troubling to the students was the fact that many blacks thought that the integration of Central would cause more trouble for their race than good.
The night before Thelma Mothershed, Elizabeth Eckford, Melba Pattillo, Jefferson Thomas, Ernest Green, Minniejean Brown, Carlotta Walls, Terrence Roberts and Gloria Ray, or the "Little Rock Nine" as history remembers them, were to enter into high school was not a peaceful night of sleep. It was a night filled with hate. Faubus declared that integration was an impossibility in a televised statement and instructed the Arkansas National Guard to surround Central High and keep all blacks out of the school. They did keep them out for that first day of class.
Now imagine that you are a black student in 1957 preparing to go to Little Rock Central High School to attempt what seemed impossible -- the integration of public schools. These students were aware of what the public thought of their entering into a "white" high school. They didn't worry about fitting in. Most whites, including the governor at the time, Orval Faubus, stood against them. Most troubling to the students was the fact that many blacks thought that the integration of Central would cause more trouble for their race than good.
The night before Thelma Mothershed, Elizabeth Eckford, Melba Pattillo, Jefferson Thomas, Ernest Green, Minniejean Brown, Carlotta Walls, Terrence Roberts and Gloria Ray, or the "Little Rock Nine" as history remembers them, were to enter into high school was not a peaceful night of sleep. It was a night filled with hate. Faubus declared that integration was an impossibility in a televised statement and instructed the Arkansas National Guard to surround Central High and keep all blacks out of the school. They did keep them out for that first day of class.
Why?
Racism was around many years before, and there are still signs of it today. Blacks were hated almost every were they would go. Blacks couldn't share even the simpliest of things with whites, such as: water fountains, bathrooms, bus seats, schools, jobs, and the list goes on. Blacks were constently spatted on, beaten, even mudered, and nobody was blamed for any of the crimes.
Who Are the Little Rock Nine?
The Little Rock Nine were nine African American teenagers who became the first test case following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of desegregation of American schools. The students attended school in Little Rock, Arkansas, at Little Rock Central High School.