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Exploring The Parks: A Visit To Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site

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Little Rock Central/David and Kay Scott

The 1950s and 1960s were a period of strife coupled with significant progress in America'™s struggle with civil rights. Marches, sit-ins, and violence were accompanied by legislation, desegregation, and, in some instances, accommodation. Birmingham, Montgomery, Selma, Greensboro, and Washington, D.C. are remembered as some of the principal battlegrounds in the conflict and struggle for equal rights.

No city played a bigger role in this era of legislation, court decisions, and confrontations than Little Rock, Arkansas, where in September 1957, nine black students sought to integrate Little Rock Central High School. The scene was ugly but the result was of great consequence. The site of this epic confrontation between the state and federal governments was designated a unit of the National Park System in 1998.

We recently had the opportunity to visit Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site for the first time. The National Park Service visitor center is across the street from the high school that continues in use. Visitor center exhibits and video presentations are well done and result in most visitors staying longer than planned.

Events Leading to the Little Rock Confrontation

The 1957 confrontation at Little Rock Central High School resulted from a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling three years earlier. In Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the court ruled unanimously that public school segregation was unconstitutional. The 1954 ruling overturned an 1886 court ruling that state laws mandating racial segregation in public facilities were constitutional. This earlier ruling became known as the 'œseparate but equal' doctrine that held sway in the United States for well over half a century. At the time of the 1954 decision, many states had laws mandating that Caucasian and African-American children attend different schools.

Under court order, the district superintendent of Little Rock'™s schools developed several proposals, including one for gradual desegregation of the city'™s pubic schools that was approved by the school board. This proposal called for integration of Little Rock Central High School in fall 1957 and integration of the city'™s junior high schools beginning in 1960.

Thus, Little Rock Central High School prepared to enroll nine black students who the state NAACP head had selected because of their excellent grades and strong character. The students, who were counseled as what to expect, would become forever known as the 'œLittle Rock Nine.' On the evening prior to their planned enrollment, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, who planned to run for reelection and believed he would require segregationist votes in order to win, announced on television that he intended to use the Arkansas National Guard to prohibit the students from entering the school. The governor claimed his decision was designed to protect the students and prevent violence.

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The visitor center tells a compelling chapter of America's struggles with civil rights/David and Kay Scott

The Confrontation

Eight of the students arrived as a group with the NAACP state president while the remaining female student, unaware the others were being transported as a group, approached the school alone. Blocked by members of the National Guard, and threatened by protesting bystanders, none of the nine students attempted to enter Little Rock Central on the first day of school. Concerned about the potential for violence, the school board then proposed the desegregation plan be suspended, a request that was turned down by a federal judge. The confrontation in Little Rock and defiance of the federal desegregation order quickly spread to other areas of Arkansas and across the Deep South. This brought about a meeting of Governor Faubus with President Dwight Eisenhower, who hoped to persuade the governor to allow the students entry into the school.

The judge who had previously rejected the proposal for a suspension of the desegregation order subsequently ruled the Arkansas governor had not properly used the National Guard. Thus, after returning to Little Rock, Faubus ordered withdrawal of the Guard, leaving only local police to maintain order. When the nine students were finally able to enter Little Rock Central, their success was short-lived because local police were unable to contain the unruly crowd. Outside the school an angry mob took to violence against the police press and student supporters while the nine students were able to escape into waiting vehicles. The ugly scene became headline news in papers and evening television across the country and around the world.

The increasing violence in Arkansas eventually brought action from a reluctant president when Dwight Eisenhower ordered members of the U.S. Army'™s 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock. The soldiers, along with the federalized National Guard, escorted and protected the students for the remainder of the academic year, during which they were frequently harassed by other students. The lone senior of the Little Rock Nine graduated in May 1958. The other students weren'™t so lucky, and their initial success proved temporary when the governor closed all four of the city'™s public high schools at the beginning of the 1958 school year. A subsequent public referendum on integration resulted in Little Rock citizens soundly upholding the governor'™s decision. The schools were reopened under federal order in August 1959 following what became known as 'œthe lost year.'

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Learning about civil rights/David and Kay Scott

The Importance of Little Rock and Its Aftermath

The violence, lawsuits, and resulting response from the federal government resulted in the Little Rock confrontation becoming one of the important turning points in America'™s struggle over civil rights. One of the nine students graduated from Central High School in 1958, while two others returned following its reopening and graduated in 1960. Another student received a Central High School diploma through correspondence courses. The remainder of the Little Rock Nine received high school diplomas from different schools. Eight of the nine students are still alive, with two living in Little Rock. All nine graduated from college.

Visiting the National Historic Site

A tour of the historic site begins at the NPS visitor center, where free parking is available. The visitor center, open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., is worth at least two hours of your time in order to study the exhibits and view news videos of the conflict. Little Rock Central High School is across the street and remains in operation with approximately 2,400 students. The National Park Service offers guided tours of the school (classrooms are not included) at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. Tour groups are limited to a maximum of 50 and reservations are advised. It is worth a visit to the historic site just to view the exterior of the high school that was named 'œAmerica'™s Most Beautiful' by the American Institute of Architects. A restored Mobil service station made famous by media during the conflict is part of the historic site and across the street from the visitor center.

As an aside, during our own visit we watched as a young African-American female stood before an exhibit in the visitor center. She was pointing and reading out loud the words of the exhibit with the occasional assistance of her parents. She successfully got through one of the longer paragraphs until reaching the final word when she turned to her mother and sought help. The word was 'œnegroes,' a term with which she was apparently unfamiliar. Racial progress comes in many ways.

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NAACP attorney (and future Supreme Court justice) Thurgood Marshall with Arkansas NAACP head Daisy Bates and members of the Little Rock Nine on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Comments

An ugly part of America's history that needs to be preserved.

Not only does it tell a story of courage, it also provides a baseline for us to measure our progress -- or lack thereof, in some cases.

This is just one of many examples of why our national historic sites are so vitally important and why they need to exist.


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