Desegregation in education-The Little Rock Nine

The Little Rock Nine are nine famous black students that were the first blacks to attend Central High, an integrated school in Arkansas. After word got out about them starting school they started to get threats. They were also blocked on the first day by mobs of angry white people. The governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, even used the National Guard to keep the kids from entering. When the students were finally able to get inside using a back way, they were forced out by the mobs. Woodrow Mann, the mayor of Little Rock then took things into his own hands, and told me about what was going on.

When I heard about Orval Faubus using the National Guard, I granted Mann's wish and sent my own guards to protect the students and enforce integration. The next day, the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army were there to escort the Little Rock Nine in to school, and they completed the whole day of school. The division also each took one kid, and followed them around school to protect them as best they could. However, the students were still spit on, kicked, tripped, called horrible names, and beat up by white students. Luckily, someone was there for Melba Pattillo when acid was thrown in her eyes, to wash it out. The other precautions that I took to help the Little Rock Nine was to take the National Guard from Faubus' hands and have a meeting with him, where I told him not to interfere with the Supreme Court.

By Katie Orton

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine

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