Brian Schwieger\, park ranger at Little Ro ck Central High School National Historic Site\, will present on the Little Rock Nine and the history of desegregation at Little Rock Central High Sc hool. \;
\nNote: This is a virtual program on Z oom. A link to the meeting will be emailed to all registered participants. \;
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Presentation Overview
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Opened in the era of Jim Crow laws and at a time when
Supreme Court-mandated policy allowed educational facilities to be separa
te but equal\, Little Rock Central High School admitted only white student
s during its first three decades. These students received greater educatio
nal opportunity than did their African American counterparts throughout th
e city. \;The landmark \;Brown v. Board of Education \;decisio
n \;in 1954 held separate educational facilities to be inherently uneq
ual. Three years after \;Brown\, Little Rock Central High School becam
e the epicenter of a direct challenge to federal authority and enforcement
not seen since post-Civil War Reconstruction.
In September 1957\, angry mobs\, the governor of Arkansas and the Arkansas National Guard blo cked two attempts by African American students to enter and integrate the school. Later dubbed by the media as the Little Rock Nine\, this group of students succeeded on their third attempt. They entered classes on Septemb er 25\, 1957\, escorted by the 101st Airborne\, which had been ordered by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to enforce the ruling and prevent interfere nce with court orders of integration. \;Despite the presence of troops \, the Little Rock Nine faced harassment&mdash\;verbal and violent\, priva te and public\, latent and life-altering&mdash\;throughout the school year . The following year\, voters chose in a special election to reject immedi ate racial integration of all schools within the Little Rock School Distri ct\, allowing four local high schools to be shuttered for an entire school year.
\nIn our program\, we will discuss \;the heroic story of the Little Rock Nine\, the struggle to maintain segregation\, the surging tide of the civil rights movement\, and \;how the sacrifice and strugg le endured by nine African American teenagers more than a half century ago have provided opportunities and opened doors to those seeking equality&md ash\;and education&mdash\;around the world. \;
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