The Little Rock Nine Essay, Research Paper

The Little Rock Nine

Three years after the courts outlawed segregated schools, nine black students joined Central High. In the televised news, Governor Orval Faubus said that he called in the National Guard because he heard that white supremacists from all over the state were descending on Little Rock. He declared Central off limits to blacks and said that if any black attempted to enter they would be held back. Unfortunately, Elizabeth Eckford, one of the nine, did not have a phone. She never received the message and attempted to enter the

school alone through the front entrance. Angry white mobs threatened to lynch her. But lucky for Elizabeth, two whites helped her escape without injury.

On September 20, Judge Ronald N. Davies granted NAACP lawyers,Thurgood Marshall and Wiley Branton, an injunction that stopped Governor Faubus from using the National Guard to prevent the nine black students from attending Central High. On Monday, September 23, the Little Rock Nine set out for school. Inside they were harassed and called nasty names. The police outside couldn t control the mobs, and the Little Rock Nine were ordered to leave immediately.

In order to ensure that the Little Rock Nine finished their school day, President Eisenhower ordered federal troops from the 101st Airborne Division to guard the building. Each of the black students also had a personal escort from class to class. Still the black students were subjected to hatred. They threw sticks of dynamite at Melba Pattillo, stabbed her, and sprayed acid in her eyes. The acid was so strong that had her guard not splashed water on her face immediately, she would have been blind for the rest of her life.

The other eight all finished the school year. In May, despite numerous protests and under the watchful eye of federal guardsmen, Ernest Green became the first black graduate of Central High, the sole minority student in his 602 member class.