School Integration in Little Rock, Arkansas: Introduction


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Although most school districts at least attempted to integrate following the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, some school districts, particularly those in the Deep South, actively avoided desegregation. One of the most famous cases involved Little Rock's Central High School, where Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus joined local whites in resisting integration by dispatching the Arkansas National Guard to block the nine black students from entering the school. President Dwight Eisenhower responded by sending federal troops to protect the students. The crisis in Little Rock showed America that the president could and would enforce court orders with federal troops. When eight of the nine black students successfully completed the school year, they showed America that black students could and would endure the intense hatred that racist white students could dump on them. It was a big step towards integration and an important one, even though it caused nine brave teenagers unspeakable pain.

  1. Background
  2. Governor Faubus Resists Integration
  3. The Little Rock Nine Enter Central High
  4. Eisenhower Sends Federal Troops
  5. Public Schools Shut Down


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Adapted from School Integration in the United States: Opposition to Integration, a web project written for my tenth grade African history class, as well as some additional outside research.

Copyright © 1998 Lisa Cozzens (lisa@www.watson.org ). Please read this before you email me!
URL for this page: http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/school-integration/lilrock/index.html
Last modified: Tue Jul 14, 1998