Students Of History: The Little Rock Nine By Scott Kirkwood (NAPSA)—Little Rock, Arkan- sas, September 1957. Nine AfricanAmerican students report to Central High Schoolfor thefirst day of class. They are greeted by an angry mob of white students, parents and local citizens who makeit abundantly clear that these new students are not welcome. Armed soldiers from the Arkansas National Guard, under the direction of Gov. Orval Faubus, halt the nine students at the threshold until President Dwight Kisenhower dispatches 101st Airborne Division paratroopersto Little Rock, placing the National Guard unit under federal commandto guarantee the students’ safe passage. Three years after the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, denouncingthe “separate but equal” approach to education in the South, classrooms becamethelocale for a trial of another sort, and the “Little Rock Nine” spent the next year under the watchful eye of an entire nation. Most emerged from their ordeal quite successful. But their larger legacy is, no doubt, the diverse group of students who followed in their footsteps and benefitted from a more equitable education. That historic breakthrough for all Americans is now commemorated at Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site. Central High was constructed Little Rock Central High School is now a National Historic Site. in 1927 at a cost of $1.5 million— more than 150,000 square feet spreading over two city blocks. With its gothic architecture and Greco-Roman cast stone figures perched over the main entrance, the building resembles an Ivy League university more than a typical high school in the Deep South. The school became a park unit in November 1998, but unlike most historic buildings in the Park Service, this onestill serves its original purpose: More than 2,200 teenagers attend classes here every day. Thanks to a unique arrangement between the Park Service and the school’s administrators, park rangers lead limited group tours of the school between bells and during summer vacation. “When wetalk to visitors, we generally try to develop a personal connection between folks and the story,” says Michael Madell, the park’s superintendent. “We talk about life in the Jim Crow South and how incredibly courageous it was for these young people to assert these basic rights. We also encourage folks to think about what that may have been like for them when they were at that age. Would they have been able to do what these teens did?” Madell likes to illustrate the fact that many of these battles are far from over: He often shares the story of a young black teen in Georgia who struggled to organize her school’s first integrated prom; few visitors guess that story took place in 2002. Although decades have passed, the legacy of the Little Rock Nine isn’t lost on those who walk the school’s halls today. “Plenty of people around herestill remember those years very clearly,” says Principal Nancy Rousseau. “Teachers and counselors at Central attended high school in Arkansas during those years, so it’s still very much alive. Three of the nine students live in Little Rock now and they come to the school to visit with students. On the 45th anniversary, three years ago, Minnijean Brown Trickey spoke to the entire student body for over an hour. It was an amazing experience—you could’ve heard a pin drop.” Adapted from National Parks magazine, a publication of the National Parks Conservation Association. Subscribe online at www.npea.org.
