Primary Sources: Civil Rights in America - Events: Central High (Little Rock, AK) [1957]

Documents related to Little Rock Central High School integration in 1957.

Provides a listing of Archival Collections and Reference Resources related to Central High School integration.

"On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education that segregated schools are "inherently unequal." In September 1957, as a result of that ruling, nine African-American students enrolled at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The ensuing struggle between segregationists and integrationists, the State of Arkansas and the federal government, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, has become known in modern American history as the "Little Rock Crisis." The crisis gained world-wide attention. When Governor Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to surround Central High School to keep the nine students from entering the school, President Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne Division into Little Rock to insure the safety of the "Little Rock Nine" and that the rulings of the Supreme Court were upheld. The manuscript holdings of the Eisenhower Presidential Library contain a large amount of documentation on this historic test of the Brown vs. Topeka ruling and school integration."

Mike Wallis interviewed Governor Orval Faubus about Little Rock school integration - September, 15, 1957

"Nine From Little Rock was digitally restored by the Motion Picture Preservation Lab for the 50th anniversary of its win for Best Short Documentary at the 1965 Academy Awards."

"Daisy Bates, noted journalist and civil rights activist, shares her experiences with civil rights activism and school desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas. This interview offers some insights into the nature of civil rights organizing and the personal courage and determination of civil rights workers."

Abstract
"Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus reflects on the effects of his twelve-year tenure in the governor's mansion, state politics, and, of course, desegregation. Faubus paints himself as a populist who helped rescue Arkansas from backwardness with social programs and infrastructure. Merciless mischaracterizations from a lazy and hostile press have sullied his legacy, he claims, ignoring his many accomplishments and obscuring the true story of what happened on the courthouse steps in 1957. This interview will be useful to researchers interested in Arkansas politics in the middle of the twentieth century, the rising influence of the media in politics, and desegregation. "

"Carlotta Walls LeNier, whose school dress is in Smithsonian, says much was accomplished and now we need to hold onto it
Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/youngest-little-rock-nine-speaks-about-holding-onto-history-180964732/#ZVO5ovqZ6f8he3Bp.99
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"As television spread images of the subsequent mob violence around the world, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in the following radio and television address on September 24, 1957, announced his reluctant response. Despite his disapproval of the Brown decision, Eisenhower, couching his address in the language of law and order, Cold War propaganda, and national pride, became the first president since Reconstruction to send Federal troops to protect the rights of African Americans. Although the nine students enrolled, resistance to desegregation continued as Faubus closed Little Rock high schools the following year and the number of desegregated schools in the South dropped precipitously in the ensuing years."