What is the significance of little rock

The image was printed and broadcast widely in the United States and abroad, bringing the Little Rock controversy to national and international attention. The police escorted the nine African American students into the school on September 23, through an angry mob of some 1, white protesters gathered outside. Amidst ensuing rioting, the police removed the nine students.

The following day, President Eisenhower sent in 1, members of the U. Escorted by the troops, the Little Rock Nine attended their first full day of classes on September Numerous legal challenges to integration continued throughout the year, and Faubus repeatedly expressed his wish that the Little Rock Nine be removed from Central High.

Although several of the black students had positive experiences on their first day of school, according to a September 25, , report in The New York Times , they experienced routine harassment and even violence throughout the rest of the year. Melba Patillo, for instance, was kicked, beaten and had acid thrown in her face.

At one point, white students burned an African American effigy in a vacant lot across from the school. Gloria Ray was pushed down a flight of stairs, and the Little Rock Nine were barred from participating in extracurricular activities.

Minnijean Brown was expelled from Central High School in February for retaliating against the attacks. Little Rock citizens voted 19, to 7, against integration and the schools remained closed. Other than Green, the rest of the Little Rock Nine completed their high school careers via correspondence or at other high schools across the country. Eckford joined the Army and later earned her General Education Equivalency diploma.

Brown worked as deputy assistant secretary for workforce diversity in the Department of the Interior under President Bill Clinton. Patillo worked as a reporter for NBC. The group has been widely recognized for their significant role in the civil rights movement.

In , the U. Mint created a commemorative silver dollar in honor of their courage. World View. But although 25 September is the date people remember, troops remained at Central high school for the rest the school year and the Little Rock Nine ran the gauntlet of hatred every day. They were taunted, assaulted and spat upon by their white counterparts; a straw effigy of a black person was hung from a tree. Trickey was first suspended, and then expelled, for retaliating against tormentors who went unpunished.

She was invited to New York to live in the home of Kenneth and Mamie Clark, social psychologists whose groundbreaking work showed the negative impact of segregation on African American children , and finished her secondary education.

She eventually became an activist, environmentalist and social worker with a spell in the Bill Clinton administration. Beals became a journalist and author and lives in San Francisco; Carlotta Walls LaNier, the youngest of the nine, became a property broker in Denver; Elizabeth Eckford served in the army, became a probation officer and lives in Little Rock; Ernest Green served in the Jimmy Carter administration and worked for Lehman Brothers in Washington DC; Gloria Ray Karlmark worked as an aerospace research technician and lives in the Netherlands and Sweden; Terrence Roberts became a psychologist and management executive in Pasadena, California; Thelma Mothershed Wair had a career as a teacher and worked with young offenders and the homeless, then moved back to Little Rock; Jefferson Thomas fought in Vietnam, became an accounting clerk with the defence department and died in Columbus, Ohio, from pancreatic cancer in The nine were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by Clinton in and have met for reunions, particularly on anniversaries.

But the legacy of Little Rock is non-linear, and cause for both optimism and caution. While significant strides were made towards desegregation in the 70s and 80s, a series of decisions by the supreme court between and authorized the termination of cross-district bussing, local court supervision of desegregation plans and limited use of race-based admissions. There is little sign Donald Trump and his education secretary, Betsy DeVos, regard this as a priority. Today, children of every race walk through the same door, but then they often walk down different halls.

Not only in this school, but across America, they sit in different classrooms, they eat at different tables. They even sit in different parts of the bleachers at the football game. The Little Rock Nine could be forgiven a sense of frustration at such uneven progress. It has become more visible because the people who are running the country now are profoundly intentionally ignorant. Try to picture the white students who jeered and harassed them. Imagine also what it would have been like to be a white student or teacher who supported the Little Rock Nine.

The task of a great museum is to not merely revisit historic events, but rather to help stir our minds and souls. African American history is vital to understanding America's history. Our nation's epic stories should be presented in a way that enables us when viewing an exhibition to be immersed in the moment, to be able to feel some of the emotion of the event and, perhaps, see it from a new or different perspective.

We hope the visitor experience will open the door to conversation and understanding. The Museum will be a powerful, positive force in the national discussion about race and the important role African Americans have played in the American story — a museum that will make all Americans proud. Privacy Terms of Use. Skip to main content.