The Little Rock Nine

September 4th, 1957. Nine historic figures, surrounded by hecklers and shouting, walk the streets of Little Rock, Arkansas.  

Shortly after the famous Brown v. Board of Education trial banned segregation from American schools, the town of Little Rock became the first to allow black Americans into a local white high school. Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, Jefferson Thomas, Terrence Roberts, Carlotta LaNier, Minnijean Brown, Gloria Ray Kalmark, Thelma Mothershed, and Melba Pattillo Beals soon became known as the Little Rock Nine.

The Little Rock Nine
Source: http://kearsleyeclipse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/little-rock-nine.jpg

However, this small group of teenagers suffered massive roadblocks with their then-controversial academic careers. At the time, Arkansas' governor Orval Faubus was a verbal segregationist. On the Little Rock Nine's first day at Little Rock Central High School, Faubus ordered armed federal and nearby Army troops to surround the school and keep the group from entering. Faubus justified his decision with the argument that the entrance of the Little Rock Nine would incite violence, and thus it would be safer for everyone to keep them out. Soon after, President Dwight D. Eisenhower persuaded the governor to remove the troops, and instead sent his own National Guardsmen to escort the students to school. Governor Faubus was officially stripped of his power to segregate Arkansas' schools.

The Little Rock Nine gets escorted to school by National Guardsmen
Source: https://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/01_055946691.jpg?quality=85&w=832

Additionally, these new students struggled to adjust to school as their peers abused them racially and physically throughout the year. Specific examples of abuse included beating, kicking, heckling, and burning an African-American effigy in nearby lot. Patillo recalls getting acid thrown in her face, Ray was pushed down a flight of stairs, and Brown was expelled from the school for retaliating against the attacks. The racism even got to a point where Faubus held a vote regarding integration and shut down all of Little Rock's high schools for a year to prevent more black American students from entering the system.

Students heckle a girl from the Little Rock Nine as she walks to school
Source: http://hotelworkers.org/images/uploads/eckford_large.jpeg

Despite the violence they had to endure, the Little Rock Nine represented a major turning point in US history. They were the first black Americans people to attend a white school. Their education in a desegregated school helped spark motivation in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Because of them, people across the nation fought harder against similar injustices they had to suffer through.

The Little Rock Nine went on to have successful careers. Green became assistant secretary of the federal Department of Labor under President Jimmy Carter. Brown served as a deputy assistant secretary for work force diversity int he Department of the Interior under President Bill Clinton. Others went on to have amazing careers in journalism, accounting, social work, and psychology.

The Little Rock Nine as of 2008
Source: https://www.blacktie-colorado.com/captured_events_pictures//1d19f579869cd949e7b676d623e909c6.jpg

Sources: http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/central-high-school-integration
https://newsone.com/2034005/little-rock-nine-facts/