Little Rock Nine

In 1957, when teenagers were listening to Elvis Presley, playing sports, or maybe watching television shows, the Little Rock Nine were desegregating Central High School. These students were verbally and physically assaulted but returned to school every day. In 1958, Ernest Green would be the first African American to graduate from Central High school. Let's take a closer look at the Little Rock Nine, their historical significance, and Impact.

Little Rock Nine History

In Brown v. the Board of Education, the Supreme Court ruled that schools had to be desegregated. "Separate but equal" wasn't realistic because children of color didn't have access to the same quality of education as white children. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), asked for volunteers to test the Brown v. the Board of Education ruling in Little Rock, Arkansas. Teachers asked their students and many volunteered.

The NAACP vetted the different volunteers and looked for students that they believed could make it a year. They spent the summer preparing the children for what they would endure. No one thought that it was going to be easy, but nothing could prepare the children for the violence and hatred that they would endure.

Little Rock Nine Members

The Little Rock Nine and their supporters believed that the children were owed the same chances as white children. Let's take a closer look at whom the NAACP chose to complete this extreme task. In the above picture, front row, from left to right are Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Carlotta Walls, the mayor of New York City, Thelma Mothershed, and Gloria Ray. On the back row, left to right, are Terrence Roberts, Ernest Green, Melba Pattillo, and Jefferson Thomas.

Fig 1: Little Rock Nine Meeting with New York City Mayor

Little Rock Nine Dates

When the children arrived for the first day of school, they were met with a violent and angry mob. Governor Orval Faubus arranged for the National Guard to come in and "protect the citizens of Little Rock." What this really meant was that the National Guard was there to keep the children from attending school. The NAACP contacted the children the night before with a meeting location. From there, everyone would walk together into the school. Elizabeth Eckles's family didn't have a house phone, so she wasn't informed.

Eckles walked to the school and through the mob on her own. She was spat on, cursed at, and threatened, but she didn't respond to the mob. Eckles didn't make it into the school that day, and neither did the rest of the nine, but unlike the others, she faced that alone. According to Melba Pattillo, that experience would forever affect Eckles. The angry mob was made up of adults who didn't want the school to be desegregated.

Fig 2: Elizabeth Eckles Walking Alone

September 25, 1956

The Little Rock Nine couldn't get into the school for three weeks. President Dwight D. Eisenhower asked Governor Faubus to meet with him at the White House. Eisenhower asked that the National Guard be called off. While this was happening, Judge Ronald Davies ordered that integration must be allowed to continue. Faubus called off the National Guard, but he gave a speech where he implied that the mob should take matters into their own hands.

On September 24, 1956, the local police escorted the children in through a side door. They faced violence and had to leave soon after. On September 25, 1956, Eisenhower sent in the 101st airborne division of the army. This division was considered to be no-nonsense, highly trained, and very skilled. The armed soldiers escorted the children inside and waited outside each class.

Little Rock Nine Facts

Getting inside Central High School was an enormous accomplishment, but it was just the beginning. The real task ahead was completing the school year. Each child had at least one guard assigned to them, but they weren't allowed inside classrooms, restrooms, or locker rooms and everyone knew this. In some classes, teachers kept the children safe, but other teachers allowed their classrooms to become a free for all.

Children would harass them by calling them names, pulling their hair, spitting on them, and worse. Melba Pattillo later wrote a book about her experience called Warriors Don't Cry. She recounted the horrible things that happened to her and how they affected her life. In one instance, another student threw acid in her face. Pattillo's guard had to flush her eyes with water. Gloria Ray was pushed down a flight of stairs.

Their clothes were urinated on in the locker rooms. The bathrooms could be deadly. The children tried not to use them if they could help it because white children would attack them if they went inside. This all came to a head when two boys were harassing Minniejean Brown in the cafeteria, and she poured her chili on them. Brown was expelled and nothing happened to the boys who started the issue.

Fig 3: Minniejean Brown

In another instance, a white boy was ridiculing Brown. Eventually, she argued back. Brown was expelled for "verbal retaliation after provocation" while the aggressor was allowed to continue at the school. The Little Rock Nine had tried to get assistance from teachers by reporting the harassment, but their pleas for help fell on deaf ears. Once one of the nine children stepped out of line in the slightest way, they were punished.

After Brown was expelled, the new chant was "one down, eight to go." The rest of the eight were able to persevere and make it through the rest of the year. Ernest Brown was the first African American to graduate from Central High School. Martin Luther King Jr. attended the graduation.

Governor Faubus shut down all public high schools the following school year. Not one high schooler, regardless of their race, was able to go to school that year. Once the schools reopened, Jefferson Thomas went back and graduated from Central High School.

Little Rock Nine Impact

Minnijean Brown went on to become a reporter and activist. Elizabeth Eckford couldn't graduate because the schools were shut down by Governor Faubus during her senior year. Eckford joined the military and later earned her G.E.D. Ernest Green was a member of President Jimmy Carter's administration as assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Affairs. Thelma Mothershed was an inspirational teacher.

Melba Pattillo was a reporter for NBC and the only member of the Little Rock Nine to write a book about her experiences. Carlotta Walls owned a real estate firm and was the President of the Little Rock Nine Foundation, which created scholarships to ensure equality among students.

Terrance Roberts was a doctor of Psychology. Jefferson Thomas was the accountant for the United States Department of Defense. Gloria Ray moved to Sweden and co-founded the Computers in Industry magazine and was the Editor-in-Chief. Bill Clinton awarded them the Congressional Gold Medal for desegregating Central High School.

Fig 4: Bill Clinton Awarding the Little Rock Nine the Congressional Gold Medal

The Little Rock Nine's story inspired other African Americans to start desegregating schools. Within a decade, public schools were mostly integrated. The very last school was desegregated in 2016 in Mississippi. Others were inspired and began desegregating other public areas. The Little Rock Nine didn't immediately know what they accomplished. Pattillo didn't realize what she had done as a teenager until she was forty years old.

The Little Rock Nine were brave students who faced a mountain of adversity. Many of the perpetrators were adults harassing these children. Their contribution changed the course of American history for the better.