Little Rock Crisis

The Little Rock Desegregation Crisis was an international symbol of the early American Civil Rights movement in 1957.

Desegregating Little Rock before 1957

The stage for the Little Rock Crisis was set by the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education (1954).

The Crisis of 1957-1958

The immediate 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, as he feared that "[b]lood will run in the streets."

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.

Paratroopers 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.

U.S. Supreme Court decision of Aaron v. Cooper (1958).

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

Closure of Little Rock Schools

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.

Aftermath and ongoing struggle

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.

Black leaders under Worth Long demanded the desegregation of public and commercial spaces in the city of Little Rock in 1962. Long first met with the Little Rock City Council, and then took his demands to the local Retail Merchant's Association (RMA). The RMA responded by asking the Greater Little Rock Chamber of Commerce to respond to Long's complaints. Chamber member Will Mitchell remembered that at the time "civic leaders did not want the City Board to take any action, for such negotiation might get them into election difficulties."

In October 1962 Bill Hansen announced an imminent sit-in at the Woolworth's lunch counter on Main Street. Little Rock Unlimited Progress director Willard A. Hawkins, faced with ongoing protests, announced that the Chamber of Commerce was creating a special Downtown Negotiating Committee to address the problem. Worthen Bank president James Penick agreed to serve as the chair of this negotiating committee. The committee agreed that downtown businesses must desegregate by January 1, 1963. Apparently unaware of the decision or the deadline or concerned about the strength of promises made, local students launched a sit-in at lunch counters on December 1, 1963. Lunch counters were desegregated on January 1, 1963. Main Street motion picture theaters were desegregated on June 1, 1963. Thirty-eight restaurants desegregated on September 1, 1963; six restaurant owners refused the order.

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.
• Elizabeth Jacoway and C. Fred Williams, eds., Understanding the Little Rock Crisis: An Exercise in Remembrance and Reconciliation (Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press, 1999).
• David L. Kirp, "Retreat into Legalism: The Little Rock School Desegregation Case in Historic Perspective," PS, Political Science & Politics 30.3 (September 1997): 443-448.
• Irving J. Spitzberg, Jr., Racial Politics in Little Rock: 1954-1964 (New York: Garland Publishing Company, 1987).
• Shelby Steele, "The Legacy of Little Rock," Wall Street Journal, September 25, 2007.