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I love to take advantage of any opportunity to learn, and Spring Break is no exception. While my boys and I are on a mission to visit as many National Parks as possible before my oldest turns 18, I make sure each trip has some element of diverse American history. Last year we went to Hull House to learn about Jane Addams. For this year’s Spring Break trip, we stopped at Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site on the way home from Hot Springs National Park.
What Happened at Little Rock Central High School?
Little Rock Central High School was the center of a massive racially-motivated riot in September of 1957, but the impetus began years earlier.
The 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown vs Board of Education (argued and won by future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall) ruled that segregation in public schools is in violation of the 14th amendment, which ensures equal protection under the law for all people.
Many states did not want to integrate and fought against it. One town even closed their public schools and opened up private schools, in order to avoid integrating their classrooms.
In 1956, 101 members of Congress came together to write and agree to The Southern Manifesto, where they declared that the ruling of the Supreme Court in Brown vs Board of Education was “clear abuse of judicial power.”
Arkansas Governor Orval E. Faubus agreed with the Southern Manifesto, and took to the court system to fight the Brown vs Board of Education ruling that would integrate the public schools of Arkansas. He lost, and nine children ages 14-17 were chosen to begin attending Little Rock Central High School, the biggest public school in America.
On September 2, 1957, Governor Faubus announced he would call in the Arkansas National Guard to block the nine teenagers (nicknamed the Little Rock Nine) from entering the building. And sure enough, when the teenagers arrived on campus on September 4th, 1957, they were denied entry into the building.
The attempt at integrating the public school system triggered the racists, and a mob of angry white people crowded the school. Reporters ran back and forth between the school and the gas station across the street to call in their accounts to their newspapers.
The children tried every day to enter the school, being subjected to protestors screaming, spitting, and physically intimidating them. Some white students befriended them, and were also subjected to threats of violence against them and their families.
On September 23, 1957, the students used a side entrance to get into the school, but had to be evacuated as the mob increased to over one thousand people.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower was initially reluctant to get involved. He was not a strong proponent of integration or equal rights, but he did not want governors get the idea that they could defy Supreme Court rulings. On September 24, he invoked the Insurrection Act and deployed the 101st Airborne Army troops to protect the students and their right to integrate.
The Army troops remained at the school for the entire school year to protect the students.
Governor Faubus, ever the petty racist, closed Little Rock Central High School and the other three high schools in the area in September 1958 rather than continue the plan of integration. The school reopened for the following school year in August of 1959 per federal court order.
Visit Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
The National Historic Site is a powerful and sobering experience. The designers utilize different medias to share the history and background of the riot, including quotes on the walls, pictures of the protestors, and video interviews with the Little Rock Nine and some of their white friends.
The visitor’s center is free to the public. We supported them by buying some stickers from the gift shop.
Little Rock Central High School Jr. Ranger Program
One of my favorite parts of the National Sites are the Junior Rangers programs, which are interactive ways for young children to learn about the places and history of the sites. These are free programs and upon completion, the child is “sworn in” by a Park Ranger to become a Junior Ranger, and they get a badge.
The Little Rock Junior Ranger program is very hands-on, and requires the students to go on a bit of a scavenger hunt around the square. To complete the scavenger hunt, the students visit the visitor’s center, the outside of the high school (which is still an active high school, so not open to the public), the gas station, the garden, and a bus stop where fifteen-year-old Little Rock Nine teenager Elizabeth Eckford sat stoically as white protestors surrounded her and screamed at her.
This Junior Ranger program provided lots of thoughtful questions to discuss with students, guiding them to think about the Little Rock Nine and how they would have reacted if that happened to any of their classmates.
I have already talked another friend into visiting the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, and I hope this has encouraged you to add this to your list of historic sites to visit as well!.
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The Little Rock Nine Challenge Segregation: Courageous Kids of the Civil Rights Movement by Myra Faye Turner, illustrated by Dolo Okecki
Cracking the Wall: The Struggles of the Little Rock Nine by Eileen Lucas, illustrated by Mark Anthony
The Story of the Little Rock Nine and School Desegregation in Photographs by David Aretha
March Forward, Girl: From Young Warrior to Little Rock Nine by Melba Pattillo Beals, illustrated by Frank Morrison
