Little Rock Nine

Protesters in the capital against integration at Central High School; on the signs the words "Race Mixing is Communism" ("Racial mixing is communism") and "Stop the Race Mixing March of the Anti-Christ" ("Stop the racial mixing march of the Antichrist ")

Statues of students commemorating the events of 1957

The " Little Rock Nine " (about "The Nine from Little Rock") was 1957, the first African-American , students three years after the official abolition of racial segregation (see. In American schools Brown v Board of Education. ) To Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock , Arkansas .

history

The then governor of the state, Orval Faubus , had the National Guard subordinate to him deployed on the evening before the first day of school on September 2 to deny the sixteen-year-old students entry into the building; in addition, angry whites demonstrated in front of the school grounds.

The governor had to withdraw the National Guard from school on September 20th due to a court decision. On September 23, the black students made another attempt to attend class; but they had to leave school after a few minutes because of the angry crowd.

In order to enforce federal law, President Eisenhower finally placed the 10,000-strong Arkansas National Guard under federal command on September 24 and dispatched federal troops (1,200 soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division ) to the city at the request of the Mayor of Little Rock . The troops broke up gatherings of white demonstrators around the school and escorted the black students on the way to school and in the building to the doors of the classrooms.

This enabled the following pupils to attend school on September 25 for the first time for a full day of school:

• Melba Pattillo Beals (* 1941)
• Elizabeth Eckford (* 1941)
• Ernest Green (born 1941)
• Gloria Ray Karlmark (* 1942)
• Carlotta Walls Lancer (* 1942)
• Terrence Roberts (* 1941)
• Jefferson Thomas (1942-2010)
• Minnijean Brown Trickey (* 1941)
• Thelma Mothershed-Wair (* 1940)

Even after they were given access to the school, there was still hostility and exclusion towards the nine students. Eight of the nine students were finishing the school year, with three graduating from Central High. Forty years later, the Little Rock Nine were recognized by President Clinton for their courage in enforcing their civil rights. Terrence Roberts was the guest of honor at the swearing in of the first African American President , Barack Obama , in Washington, DC on January 20, 2009

Movie

Charles Guggenheim made a documentary about the students ( Nine from Little Rock ) in 1964, seven years after the events, which won an Oscar for best short documentary film . A banner of the intro of Billy Wilder's Eins, Zwei, Drei, which is playing in Berlin, reads “What's going on in Little Rock?”.

literature

• Melba Pattillo Beals: Nobody should see me cry . German first publication, 2nd edition. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1996, ISBN 3-404-61353-8 .

Web links

Commons : Little Rock Nine  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• 40th Anniversary of Little Rock Nine (English) ( Memento of 22 September 2004 at the Internet Archive )
• September 24, 1957: Troops to Little Rock (Deutsche Welle KalenderBlatt)
• September 25, 1957: The military protects black students (Deutsche Welle KalenderBlatt)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Little Rock Central High 40th Anniversary ( Memento of the original from April 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Rains, Craig (accessed September 25, 2012)