Events at Little Rock (1 gen 1957 anni – 1 agos 1959 anni)

Descrizione:

A federal court had ruled that the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, must start integration in 1957, against the wishes of most of the white community and Arkansas’ governor, Orval Faubus
To obey, the school accepted applications from AAs and selected 25 students to start school in September 1957
These teenagers and their families were the victims of many threats from their white neighbours, so only 9 students still wanted to join the school when the time came
They would become known as the Little Rock Nine
To prevent the 9 students enrolling, Governor Faubus announced on television the day before that he had ordered state troops to stop the students entering the school for their own protection
He knew publicising a school’s integration in this way would cause a reaction - on the first day of school on 4th September, the nine AA students arrived and were surrounded by an angry mob of white people screaming abuse at them
The state troops prevented them entering the school so they had to go home - all this was captured by reporters and photographers and shown all over the world, as well as throughout the USA

EISENHOWER FINALLY HAD TO ACT
In the following days, troops and angry crowds continued to prevent the Little Rock Nine from entering the school
On 12th September, Eisenhower met with Governor Faubus to try to persuade him to let the students go to school
A Federal Judge had began legal proceedings against the governor and ordered the troops to be removed
The police took over and managed to successfully accompany the students into the school on 23 September
However, this caused a riot outside, so the students were sent home yet again
All of this was broadcasted to a shocked world and it was probably media pressure that forced the president to act
Eisenhower signed a presidential order that sent 1,200 Federal troops to Little Rock and put them in charge of the local state troops, who would protect the AA students
On 25 September, 3 weeks after the term had started, the Little Rock Nine were at last able to go to classes
For the whole year, the Little Rock Nine were protected by the army, but they and their families continued to experience harassment and even violence
In September 1958, Governor Faubus closed all high schools in Little Rock while the state court fought the Supreme Court over desegregation
A public vote confirmed that 72% of Little Rock’s citizens were against integrating schools, but the Supreme Court stood by the Brown decision and schools were forced to reopen in August 1959 to continue integrating
There were still protests and violence, although much less than before. However, it was not until the 1970s that there was a significant level of school integration in Little Rock

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