The Little Rock Nine

It was the morning of Sept. 4, 1957. Elizabeth Eckford walked toward Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The first thing she noticed was the crowd of people waiting for her. Eckford was one of nine black students chosen to integrate all-white Central High. The entire group was supposed to meet up before heading to school that day. But Eckford hadn’t gotten the message. She was alone.

The group of angry whites shouted epithets and threatened to lynch her. She felt relieved when she saw the Arkansas National Guard surrounding the school. But as she approached, the guardsmen refused to allow her to pass. It was then that she realized the soldiers weren’t there to protect her. They were there to prevent her and the other eight students from entering the school. 

The “Little Rock Nine,” as they became known, didn’t make it inside that day. The drama played out for three weeks, ending only after President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to ensure that the black students made it safely through the school’s front doors. The events, broadcast on national TV, helped light a fire under the civil rights movement three years after the Supreme Court had declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

“It took an incredible amount of bravery from those nine students to face what was real terrorism and mob violence,” says Alvin Tillery, a professor of political science and African-American studies at Northwestern University in Illinois. “Elizabeth Eckford being threatened, harassed, and spat on, and her calm resistance became an iconic symbol of the civil rights movement.”

They became known as the “Little Rock Nine.” None of them made it inside that day. The drama played out for three weeks and was broadcast on national TV. It ended only after President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to ensure that the black students made it safely through the school’s front doors. It had been three years since the Supreme Court had declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. The drama of the Little Rock Nine helped light a fire under the civil rights movement.

“It took an incredible amount of bravery from those nine students to face what was real terrorism and mob violence,” says Alvin Tillery, a professor of political science and African-American studies at Northwestern University in Illinois. “Elizabeth Eckford being threatened, harassed, and spat on, and her calm resistance became an iconic symbol of the civil rights movement.”    

Seeds of the confrontation had been sown in 1954. That year, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The justices unanimously ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. They cited the 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law. The Brown ruling overturned the “separate but equal” principle established by the Court in 1896 in Plessy v. Ferguson.

Most Southern states defied the Brown ruling or took only symbolic steps to comply. In Little Rock, the school board agreed to gradual desegregation, beginning in the fall of 1957 at Central High.

As the fall approached, segregationists in Little Rock were predicting that violence would break out if integration took place. But a federal court ordered the school district to proceed. The school board selected nine black students from a pool of more than 100 volunteers.

 On September 4, Eckford and the other eight students tried to enter Central High for the first time. They were confronted by a mob of white protesters.

“Are you scared?” a New York Times reporter asked one of them, 15-year-old Terrence Roberts, that day.    

“Yes, I am,” he replied. “I think the students would like me OK once I got in and they got to know me.”

But Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus sent in the state’s National Guard troops. His actions made sure integration didn’t happen that first day.

On September 20, a federal judge ordered Faubus to remove the troops. He eventually complied. Three days later, Little Rock police led the nine students into the school through a side door. But rioting broke out among the more than 1,000 white protesters in front of the school. Police removed the black students after a few hours, fearing for their safety.

In a dramatic climax to the Little Rock crisis, President Eisenhower sent 1,000 troops from the Army’s 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock on September 25. The president also placed all 10,000 Arkansas National Guardsmen under federal control. For the first time since Reconstruction, a president had sent armed federal troops to the South to ensure that the civil rights of blacks were protected.

Eisenhower addressed the nation on TV and radio that night, saying he’d reluctantly intervened. “Mob rule cannot be allowed to override decisions of the courts,” he said.

The next day, as an upset crowd of 1,500 whites watched, armed soldiers ringed Central High School. Racial integration, at bayonet point, was achieved by the six black girls and three black boys on September 26 at 9:25 a.m., 40 minutes after the opening bell.

Sixteen-year-old Ernest Green sounded hopeful later that day. “Things would be better if only the grown-ups wouldn’t mix in,” he said. “The kids have nothing against us. They hear bad things about us from their parents.”

Federal troops were gradually withdrawn, but even with National Guard troops remaining for the rest of the school year to protect them, the black students faced abuse. Gloria Ray, 15, reported that white students called her names, spat at her, vandalized her locker, and pushed her down a flight of stairs.

Minnijean Brown, 16, was suspended after dumping a bowl of chili on a white boy’s head in response to taunts in the school cafeteria and was later expelled for standing up to a white girl. But the rest of the Little Rock Nine finished the school year, and in May 1958, Green became Central High’s first black graduate. 

In September 1958, in a final act of defiance against integration, Governor Faubus closed Little Rock’s public high schools for the school year, forcing all students—white and black—who weren’t able to go to private schools to take courses by mail or enroll out of state. Some of the Little Rock Nine moved away, while others took correspondence courses. When the closings were declared unconstitutional by a federal court and Central High reopened in 1959, only two of the original black students returned.

Green, who later earned a master’s degree in sociology, went on to become  assistant secretary of labor under President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Most of the other Little Rock Nine finished high school (though only three graduated from Central High), and many went on to college and graduate school, becoming accountants, lawyers, professors, activists, and journalists. 

Sixteen-year-old Ernest Green sounded hopeful later that day. “Things would be better if only the grown-ups wouldn’t mix in,” he said. “The kids have nothing against us. They hear bad things about us from their parents.”

Federal troops were gradually withdrawn. The National Guard troops remained for the rest of the school year to protect the black students, but they still faced abuse. Gloria Ray, 15, reported that white students called her names, spat at her, vandalized her locker, and pushed her down a flight of stairs.

Minnijean Brown, 16, was suspended after dumping a bowl of chili on a white boy’s head in response to taunts in the school cafeteria. She was later expelled for standing up to a white girl. But the rest of the Little Rock Nine finished the school year. In May 1958, Green became Central High’s first black graduate.

In September 1958, Governor Faubus closed Little Rock’s public high schools for the school year. It was a final act of defiance against integration. All students, white and black, who weren’t able to go to private schools were forced to take courses by mail or enroll out of state. Some of the Little Rock Nine moved away. Others took correspondence courses. The closings were declared unconstitutional by a federal court. As a result, Central High reopened in 1959. But only two of the original black students returned.

Green later earned a master’s degree in sociology. He went on to become Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Most of the other Little Rock Nine finished high school (though only three graduated from Central High). Many went on to college and graduate school. They became accountants, lawyers, professors, activists, and journalists.    

Eight of the Little Rock Nine are still alive today. Seven attended President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, an event that must have seemed unimaginable in Little Rock in 1957. The election of America’s first black president led many to proclaim that we had entered a “postracial” America. But recent tensions, including clashes between police and black communities, have called that idea into question. Still, according to Professor Tillery of Northwestern, the legacy of the Little Rock Nine lives on, and offers lessons for young people who want to make a difference today.

“We can all do something to make America better,” he says. “It doesn’t only take heroes to make our democracy work; it takes engaged citizens.”