Little Rock Nine | Civil Rights

Created By: Emanuel Ihezue

Introduction

Among many of the individuals that protested for their right to an equal education: the students of Little Rock Nine seemed to steal the lime light. Four years before Little Rock Nine, the Brown vs. Board of education court case that declared segregation of schools unconstitutional. Governor of Arkansas Orval Faubus to take matters into his own hands by making their situation more strenuous than it needed to be. These individuals were put through trials and tribulations just to receive the same education that others were given. It was very apparent that the students of Little Rock Nine were not wanted, and if the riots and mobs of angry people did not show it then I do not know what would. The concern for these students that president Eisenhower provided made him a great role model that showed he cared for the future of the youth in this country. These pioneers allotted for the success of many students after them, giving hope that anything is possible. These students were given the opportunity of a lifetime that created a ripple effect that gave everyone equal opportunity to the education system of the United States. The students of Little Rock Nine were a cause and effect situation that produced a proper education for every person of color in this country, they were leaders and had no idea that their strength, courage and impact could create such a vast sea of visionaries.

Statue of the Little Rock Nine students in Little Rock AR

The nine students that endured the distress of being apart of such a revolutionary event were Melba Pattillo Beals, Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Thelma Mothershed, Terrence Roberts and Jefferson Thomas. Each of these students provided andvancement for the future successes of colored people. Dr. Melba Beals was only 15 when she experienced the amount of affliction that Central Senior High school had given her. The amount of dislike from the mob of angry parents, teachers and peers as well as Governor Faubus’ National Guard order had caused so much commotion. On her first day of school at Central High School she could not even enter. It was not until weeks later that she and the rest of the Little Rock Nine had entered the building with the help of President Eisenhower sending National Guardsmen under Federal court orders in 1957 on Sept 25th. On May 27th 1958, Ernest Green becomes the first of Little Rock Nine and the first African American to graduate from an all-white High school.

This moment was so historic and important at the time that Martin Luther King Jr. Attended the graduation ceremony to cheer him on. Martin Luther King Jr. Was speaking at University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, formerly known as Arkansas AM&N. Of the nine brave individuals four of them transferred to different schools Dr. Terrence Roberts, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Thelma Mothershed-Wair and Melba Pattillo Beals. Minnijean Brown Trickey was the only one of nine to be expelled from Central High school. She was expelled due to retaliating against her peers for all the torment, but she did not let this hold her back from her success. Brown Trickey moved to New York to live with psychologists Dr. Kenneth B and Mamie Clark that set the precedent on the track for the Brown vs. Board of education.

Martin Luther King Jr. meeting Ernest Green after his High school graduation.

As the Brown vs. Board of education case ended, and the courts came out with their decree that schools were not to be segregated the Little Rock School board came up with a plan to prolong desegregation by creating the Blossom plan. The Blossom plan was created by Superintendent Virgil Blossom, his idea was that he wanted to make integration go more smoothly by starting to integrate the elementary schools of the county, then middle, and high this process would have taken over five years. After the school board proposed the idea, many parents voiced their opinions to change the transition as soon as possible. This forced the board to integrate high schools in fall of 1957 for high school students. The Federal courts liked his plan so well that they made it mandated so the schools were obligated to follow. Governor Orval Faubus was in such repulsion of the idea of allowing black students into his schools that he ordered Arkansas National Guardsmen to prohibit the entry of all African American students into Central High school.

There are many reasons as why this case was so popularized. Reason one is because even though it was court mandated the Governor of Arkansas was still doing everything in his power to prevent having African American students in his school counties. Governor Faubus was so outraged, that he disobeyed a Federal Court order to allow African American students to enter the same schools that he himself had a state ordered National Guardsmen and Little Rock county police officers to create a barricade preventing them from entering. His plan was to scare them off from ever coming back, but gladly, his plan failed. Faubus was so determined to keep the school system from desegregating after Ernest Green graduated that he closed the high schools for a whole year. President Eisenhower noticed the nonsense and sinister acts that Governor Faubus was scheming, he rescinded Faubus’ National Guard order and made his own to go against what Faubus wanted and ordered over 1,500 101st Airborne division also known as the “Screaming Eagle”. President Eisenhower created a Nationwide television speech regarding the issue on desegregation, he stated that “The very basis of our individual rights and freedoms rests upon the certainty that the President and the Executive Branch of Government will support and insure the carrying out of the decisions of the Federal Courts, even, when necessary with all the means at the President’s command”. I believe had other states like Virginia, South Carolina, and Mississippi done more reckless acts would have drawn attention. Arkansas was not the only school to have rash ideas under “Massive Resistance”. Massive resistance was created in Virginia by Senator Harry F. Byrd. Byrd was also repulsed by the idea of allowing African American students into white schools. In 1958 he closed nine schools in four different counties but mainly schools in Prince Edwards county.

101st Airborne Assault symbol

Conclusion:

All in all, the individuals of Little Rock Nine were very brave in every capacity. They were initially hesitant to the idea of being the first black students to enter an all white High school, but they did not let their fears of safety effects their future success. These teenagers made a revolutionary decision that changed their lives. Their decision changed the lives of many people of color and gave them an opportunity to excel in the education system.

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