In September 1957, the world turned its eyes to Little Rock, Arkansas, and to nine African American students whose determination to attend high school placed them at the center of a constitutional crisis. They were called the Little Rock Nine, and their decision to walk into Central High School tested whether the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education had any teeth. On September 4, 1957, the first day of classes, these students were confronted by the Arkansas National Guard and an angry mob. What should have been a simple day of starting school instead became a turning point in the battle over civil rights and the question of whether state defiance could override federal law.
The story begins with Brown v. Board of Education. On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court unanimously declared that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. A year later, in Brown II, the Court ordered that school districts desegregate “with all deliberate speed,” a phrase that allowed wide interpretation and invited delay. Across the South, resistance was fierce. In Little Rock, school officials responded by drafting a gradual desegregation program known as the Blossom Plan, named for Superintendent Virgil Blossom. The plan called for integration to begin at Central High School in September 1957, but the details of the scheme were laced with maneuvers designed to limit its reach. District lines were manipulated to favor white students, and a transfer system allowed white families to avoid integration altogether. The NAACP challenged the plan in court, filing a lawsuit in February 1956, arguing that Little Rock was dragging its feet.
Arkansas itself was changing quickly. Though at first the state appeared willing to comply, legislators soon amended the state constitution to oppose desegregation outright and passed laws making it easier for white families to withdraw their children from integrated schools. White supremacist groups like the Capital Citizens Council and the Mother’s League of Central High sprang up, pushing propaganda, disrupting school board meetings, and urging defiance. Their influence grew, stoking fear and anger among white residents who opposed integration.
At the center of this storm stood Governor Orval Faubus. A Democrat who relied heavily on white voters, Faubus initially indicated he would comply with federal court orders. But as segregationists became louder, he changed his stance. On September 2, 1957, just one day before integration was to begin, Faubus announced he was calling in the Arkansas National Guard. Claiming it was to protect the students and prevent violence, his real intent was clear enough: to keep Black students out of Central High. This move created a spectacle that was widely seen as a manufactured crisis, designed to inflame white voters and hold back desegregation.
The nine students chosen to integrate Central High were carefully selected. They were Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Patillo, Gloria Ray, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas, and Carlotta Walls. They had strong academic records and high attendance. Daisy Bates, president of the Arkansas NAACP, and her husband L.C. Bates, both prominent activists, helped prepare them for the ordeal, counseling them about the hostility they would face and standing ready to support them.
Legal maneuvering was frantic in the days before school opened. On August 29, a state court issued an injunction blocking desegregation, but Federal District Judge Ronald Davies quickly nullified it the next day. Judge Davies ordered the School Board to proceed, setting September 3 as the start date. Segregationists staged protests, including a sunrise prayer service outside the school, but Davies ruled integration would go forward on September 4.
That morning, as students gathered for their first day of school, the Little Rock Nine attempted to enter Central High. Eight of them arrived together, guided by local ministers and NAACP leaders. The ninth, Elizabeth Eckford, did not get the message to meet the others because her family did not own a telephone. She arrived alone, carrying her school books, dressed neatly, and walking with quiet determination. What she faced was a mob of jeering white students and adults who screamed insults at her and demanded she leave. Photographers captured the haunting image of her calm face amid the hateful crowd, an image that spread across newspapers worldwide. One woman spat on her. Soldiers from the National Guard, positioned under Faubus’s orders, barred her way into the school. The sight of armed men preventing a teenager from attending class electrified the nation.
The crisis deepened. Judge Davies reaffirmed his order that integration proceed and demanded to know who was responsible for preventing the students from entering. The Department of Justice began investigating, but Faubus stood firm. On September 10, he accepted a federal court summons. Hearings were set for September 20. When that day came, Judge Davies ruled that the Arkansas National Guard must be removed from Central High. Faubus complied reluctantly, but the next phase of violence was about to begin.
On September 23, the Little Rock Nine tried again. Escorted by Little Rock police, eight of them entered the school. But outside, an angry mob of segregationists swelled to more than a thousand. Violence broke out, and the situation spiraled out of control. Inside, the students were hurriedly removed for their safety after only three hours of classes. Faubus refused to intervene, leaving the crisis to escalate. At this point, President Dwight Eisenhower decided to act. On September 24, he took the extraordinary step of federalizing the Arkansas National Guard, removing them from Faubus’s control, and ordered 1,200 paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock. The move was unprecedented: federal troops would enforce school desegregation.
On September 25, 1957, the Little Rock Nine walked into Central High once more, this time protected by U.S. Army soldiers and federalized Guardsmen. Major General Edwin Walker addressed the student body, reminding them that the Supreme Court had ruled segregation unconstitutional and that the law would be obeyed. The nine students began attending classes regularly, though the protection of federal troops did not shield them from daily abuse. They endured threats, insults, and physical harassment from white classmates. One of them, Minnijean Brown, was expelled for retaliating after repeated attacks. Ernest Green, the only senior, became the first African American to graduate from Central High in May 1958.
The legal struggle continued in the courts. In February 1958, the Little Rock school board petitioned to delay desegregation for two and a half years, arguing that public hostility and state opposition created chaos. The district court granted the delay, but the decision was reversed by the Eighth Circuit Court. The case reached the Supreme Court in Cooper v. Aaron. In a rare move, all nine Justices jointly authored the opinion, delivered on September 12, 1958. The Court unanimously rejected the delay and asserted the principle of judicial supremacy. The Constitution, the Court ruled, is the supreme law of the land, and the Court’s interpretation of it is binding on all states. No governor, legislature, or official could nullify federal law or court rulings. Cooper v. Aaron firmly closed the door on the doctrine of nullification, declaring that public officials are bound by their oath to uphold the Constitution and enforce its laws.
Despite this, Governor Faubus escalated his defiance. In September 1958, he closed all of Little Rock’s high schools for an entire year rather than allow further integration. This “Lost Year” left both white and Black students without public education. When the schools reopened in 1959, integration continued slowly, but the bitterness and hostility remained.
The Little Rock Nine endured unimaginable pressure and violence. Yet their courage reshaped the Civil Rights Movement. Their stand at Central High forced the federal government to prove that it would enforce the rulings of the Supreme Court. Their ordeal captured international attention, embarrassing the United States on the world stage during the Cold War, when it sought to portray itself as a leader of freedom and democracy. Ernest Green’s graduation in 1958 became a symbol of progress. Decades later, the Nine were recognized with the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999 and honored at President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009. Today, Central High is preserved as a National Historic Site, a living reminder of the day America confronted its promise of equality.
September 4, 1957, marked the collision of state defiance and federal authority, and the bravery of nine teenagers who simply wanted an education became a turning point in the nation’s long struggle with civil rights. Their legacy endures not only in the halls of Central High but in every classroom in America where children of all races learn together. They taught the nation that the Constitution must be more than words on paper, and that courage, even in the face of hate, can change the course of history.
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