Little Rock Crisis

The Little Rock Desegregation Crisis was an international symbol of the American Civil Rights movement in 1957. The crisis was precipitated on September 4, 1957, when Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus barred the door at Central High School in order to to prevent nine black students from attending classes. Faubus called out Arkansas National Guard troops to enforce his order.

On September 23, 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered 1,000 federal troops into the capitol city to restore order and enforce a federal court order integrating Central High School. Segregationist protestors forced local police to lead the students away in the middle of the day.

Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division began escorting nine black students, the Little Rock Nine, to the school doors on September 25, 1957.

In May 1958 Ernest Green became the first African American graduate of Central High School.

In a 1958 referendum Little Rock residents voted to close all public schools rather than accept integration of facilities. The prompted the formation of a number of citizen's action organizations, including the Capital Citizens' Council, the Mother's League of Central High, and the Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools. The Little Rock Crisis is widely acknowledged as a harbinger of economic hardship and population loss for the city. No major industries entered the local marketplace until the arrival of agricultural and swimming pool pump manufacturer Jacuzzi Brothers in the early 1960s.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 which threatened to cut federal funding for schools that refused to make legitimate efforts to desegregate led to a rapid waning of resistance to integration in Little Rock schools. Between 1964 and 1965 the number of African American students in local integrated schools climbed from 213 to 621. By the 1967-1968 school year Central High had enrolled 415 black students, Metropolitan Vocational School had 142, and Hall High School had five.

In an informal survey members of the Arkansas Historical Association named the Little Rock Crisis the most significant historical event of the twentieth century.

References

• Karen Anderson, "The Little Rock School Desegregation Crisis: Moderation and Social Conflict," Journal of Southern History 70.3 (August 2004): 603-637.
• Shelby Steele, "The Legacy of Little Rock," Wall Street Journal, September 25, 2007.