- The Little Rock Nine were apart of a pilot project to desegregate U.S schools. Nine black students with good grades were selected and enrolled in Central High School which was a white-only school.
- Every single day the Little Rock Nine were teased, assaulted, and dealt with protests against their attendance in a white school.
- The governor of Arkansas actually made an order to use the National Guard to block the Little Rock Nine from entering the school.
- This reached President Eisenhower who then ordered the 101st Airborne division as you can see in the picture to ward off those protesting against integration. The people in the picture are segregationists who DO NOT WANT black people to enter their schools. The owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones, was among those protesting integration.
- "2, 4, 6, 8, we do not want to integrate!" was the most popular chant.
A first person account of this is written by one of the Little Rock Nine, Melba Pattillo Beals, in her book Warriors Don't Cry. I'd recommend reading it.
EDIT: Since my comment has had a lot of attention I'll let everyone know that this story had a happy ending:
- Only 3 of the Little Rock Nine graduated Central High School and the rest including Melba transferred to another school because they couldn't take the harassment anymore. They all grew up to have successful careers, though. One of them even served in Jimmy Carter's cabinet.
- Melba would go on to marry a white service man.
- Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas hosted the Little Rock Nine at the governor's mansion in 1987. He would then visit the school as President of the United States in 1997 and was greeted by a black student who was the student body president.
- The Little Rock Nine appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show where some of the students who bullied them would apologize to them.
- Jerry Jones never really owed up to being a protestor and said he was there to see 'what was going on'. To be fair, he was only 14 when this happened and at that age you're very susceptible to peer pressure.
ImNotFromTheInternet on February 8th, 2025 at 19:07 UTC »
Is this from 1957 in Little Rock?
cloutkatsuki on February 8th, 2025 at 19:13 UTC »
Jesus. Misread the title then was blown away by the comments. Reread the tile and agreed with all
matcha-matcha- on February 8th, 2025 at 20:08 UTC »
For those confused about this picture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine
- The Little Rock Nine were apart of a pilot project to desegregate U.S schools. Nine black students with good grades were selected and enrolled in Central High School which was a white-only school.
- Every single day the Little Rock Nine were teased, assaulted, and dealt with protests against their attendance in a white school.
- The governor of Arkansas actually made an order to use the National Guard to block the Little Rock Nine from entering the school.
- This reached President Eisenhower who then ordered the 101st Airborne division as you can see in the picture to ward off those protesting against integration. The people in the picture are segregationists who DO NOT WANT black people to enter their schools. The owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones, was among those protesting integration.
- "2, 4, 6, 8, we do not want to integrate!" was the most popular chant.
A first person account of this is written by one of the Little Rock Nine, Melba Pattillo Beals, in her book Warriors Don't Cry. I'd recommend reading it.
EDIT: Since my comment has had a lot of attention I'll let everyone know that this story had a happy ending:
- Only 3 of the Little Rock Nine graduated Central High School and the rest including Melba transferred to another school because they couldn't take the harassment anymore. They all grew up to have successful careers, though. One of them even served in Jimmy Carter's cabinet.
- Melba would go on to marry a white service man.
- Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas hosted the Little Rock Nine at the governor's mansion in 1987. He would then visit the school as President of the United States in 1997 and was greeted by a black student who was the student body president.
- The Little Rock Nine appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show where some of the students who bullied them would apologize to them.
- Jerry Jones never really owed up to being a protestor and said he was there to see 'what was going on'. To be fair, he was only 14 when this happened and at that age you're very susceptible to peer pressure.