Little rock: Then and now

Abstract

Paul Fair Former Superintendent of Public Schools Little Rock, Arkansas In 1957, and for several years thereafter, Little Rock stood as a symbol of southern resistance to desegregation. It would be unrealistic not to realize that even now remnants of that worldwide impression remain, even though today the Little Rock Public Schools are completely desegregated and have been since 1973. The many persons who continue to visit Little Rock's Central High School see a fully desegregated student body and staff, with students participating together in all school activities. They ask, What was it like in 1957? and How did Little Rock accomplish desegregation? Such questions are correctly asked in the past tense, for desegregation in the Little Rock School District is, today, twenty years later, an accomplishment and a credit to the voices of reason and moderation which ultimately prevailed in our community. In comparison with many other southern cities, Little Rock moved fairly quickly in adopting a desegregation plan after the Supreme Court decisions 1954 and 1955. Seven days before the Court's implementing decision on May 31, 1955, a plan for gradual integration of the Little Rock Schools was announced by the school board. The plan was to begin at the high school level in 1957. Just before school opened in 1957, however, a temporary injunction against desegregation was obtained by a group called the Mothers League of Central High. A series of legal manuevers ensued, following the granting of the injunction, and finally a federal court order was obtained to void the Mothers League injunction and to insure that nine black students would be admitted to Central High School on the opening day of school. The court order did not suffice, however. On September 2, 1957, Governor Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to surround the Central High campus. When the nine black students came on September 4 to enroll in the school, they were turned away. On September 20 the federal court ordered Governor Faubus to cease interfering with the desegregation process at Central, but when the black students returned to school on September 23 they were met by a violent mob, only barely restrained by the Little Rock police. The next day, President Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard and ordered a detachment of the 101st Airborne Infantry Division to Little Rock to maintain order on the school campus and the areas surrounding it and to protect the lives of the black children. Finally, on September 25, the nine black students were driven to Central in an Army staff car and were escorted into the building by more than twenty sol-