Little Rock Nine Integrate

Central High School

Daisy Bates & The Little Rock Nine

video: Ernest Green (The first black graduate of Little Rock Central High School is shown here in a 1962 interview as he responds to a reporter's question about what he remembered most about his first day at Central High)

A rally in protest of the integration of Little Rock Central High at the state capitol, August 20, 1959. Library of Congress, U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection.

A rally in protest of the desegregation of Little Rock Central High at the state capitol, August 20, 1959.  Library of Congress, U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection.

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that segregation in public schools was illegal, the Little Rock school board announced that it would voluntarily desegregate Little Rock Central High. Three years later movement toward desegregation finally commenced, and nine black students were to attend Central High. The students that later became known as the Little Rock Nine were Carlotta Walls, Jefferson Thomas, Elizabeth Eckford, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Pattillo, Terrance Roberts, Gloria Ray, Minniejean Brown, and Ernest Green.

On September 2, 1957, the night before the nine students were to begin attending Central High, Governor Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to block their entrance to the school. According to Faubus, this action was to protect the black students and to keep order in the city.

On September 3, a federal judge ruled that the Little Rock Nine were to begin attending Central immediately. On the morning of September 4, Daisy Bates, president of the Arkansas NAACP, called the students and asked them to meet at her home before going to Central. All of the students met at Bates’ home except for Elizabeth Eckford who did not get the message. After meeting at Bates’ home, the eight drove to Central and attempted to enter the school on Fourteenth Street, but were unable to gain entrance.

At the same time, Elizabeth Eckford was attempting to enter through the Sixteenth Street entrance. As Eckford walked toward the entrance of the school, the National Guard and an angry mob surrounded her and prevented her from entering. With the assistance of Grace Lorch, a white woman, Eckford was able to safely leave by bus.

Several weeks later on September 20, a federal court ordered the removal of the National Guard. On September 23, about 1,000 onlookers gathered in front of the school awaiting the arrival of the nine students. This time when they arrived the police escorted them into the school through a side door. After the angry mob discovered that the nine students were already inside, they attempted to enter the school. In fear for the safety of the black students, after only a few hours, school officials decided to send them home. All of the students arrived home safely.

Concerned about mob violence, Little Rock Mayor Woodrow Mann asked President Eisenhower to send federal troops. President Eisenhower federalized the National Guard and sent the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army to protect the nine students. On September 25, as the Little Rock Nine were surrounded by troops, they entered Central High.

While each student had their own guard for protection, they experienced harassment from some white students throughout their first year. Despite this, Ernest Green became the first black student to graduate from Central High on May 27, 1958.

Although Central High had become integrated, opposition had not disappeared. In September of 1958, Governor Faubus closed all high schools in Little Rock. They were reopened August 12, 1959 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that closing the schools was unconstitutional.

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