Little Rock Nine

In September 1957, nine Black teenagers walked into Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, and changed American history forever. Their names were Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Pattillo, Gloria Ray, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas, and Carlotta Walls. They became known as the Little Rock Nine. Three years earlier, the Supreme Court had ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. But many states refused to follow the ruling. When the Little Rock Nine tried to enter Central High on September 4, 1957, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus ordered the National Guard to block them. An angry mob gathered outside the school, screaming threats. Elizabeth Eckford, who had not received the message about where the group was meeting, arrived alone and faced the hostile crowd by herself. Photographs of Eckford walking calmly through the screaming mob shocked people around the world. President Dwight D. Eisenhower stepped in. He sent 1,200 soldiers from the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division to escort the students safely into the school. It was the first time since Reconstruction that a president had sent federal troops to the South to protect the rights of Black citizens. Inside the school, the Nine faced daily harassment — they were tripped, shoved, called names, and threatened. But they kept going. Daisy Bates, the president of the Arkansas NAACP, mentored and supported them throughout the year. On May 27, 1958, Ernest Green became the first Black student to graduate from Central High School. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. attended his graduation. In 1999, all nine students were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest honors a civilian can receive. Their bravery proved that young people have the power to stand up for justice, even when the whole world is watching.