Wanderers in Wonder

Traveling Far and Wide

The Little Rock Nine — 19 April 2019

Central High, Little Rock, Arkansas

Central High is on the National Register of Historic Places. The school has also been chosen by the American Association of Architects as the most beautiful high school in America. The school is surrounded by green lawns and gardens. It is a most peaceful place…today.

The home of Daisy Bates, one of the Little Rock Nine.

In the summer of 1957 nine African American families with high school age students decided to finally make good on the the promise of Brown vs. the Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas. In that case, decided in 1954, the Court ruled that schools segregated ‘de jure’ were unconstitutional. Southern States were reluctant to comply. The African American families met with members of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) at the home of Daisy Bates that summer. They decided to desegregate Central High. The nine African American students would walk together to the high school and enroll…strength in numbers.

One of the Nine, fifteen year old Elizabeth Eckford, was separated from the others. She was hounded unmercifully by a rabid racist crowd. The snarling white girl behind Elizabeth is Hazel Massery, also fifteen years old. Members of the NAACP and the families of the Nine were prevented from coming to Elizabeth’s aid. Arkansas Governor Faubus, having heard of the possible attempt to desegregate Central High, had called out the Arkansas National Guard. Not to protect the Nine and ensure their constitutional right to an education was enforced, but to stop them from entering Central High. The Guard and the mob were successful. The Little Rock Nine were turned away that day. They would attempt to enter Central High two more times in the coming weeks to no avail.
The national press came to Little Rock to report on the Little Rock Nine. This gas station, across the street from the visitors center of the Little Rock Nine National Monument today, became the staging area for the press. The station had the only pay phone in the area. As reports of the Little Rock Nine made the national news many Americans demanded action from the federal government.
President Eisenhower, after discussions with his advisors, answered the call. He nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and ordered them confined to their barracks. He went on national TV and said the rulings of the Supreme Court would be observed by the states, by federal force if necessary.
He sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock. They would escort the Little Rock Nine to school.

They would also escort troublemakers away from the school. Central High was desegregated. Today Central High is about 53% Black, 32% White, 8% Asian and 7% Hispanic.

Elizabeth thought her best way to escape the mob was to get on a city bus. She sat on a bench on this corner, verbally assaulted the whole time, waiting for a bus. This is ‘Elizabeth’s Bench’ on the same corner today. To her credit, Hazel Massery tried to apologize to Elizabeth when they were adults. The two met later in life. David Margolick told the story of these two women in his well received book Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock.

Peace…Wanderers in Wonder.

Wanderers

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