Little Rock Nine Thesis

The Little Rock Nine were to be the first African American students to enter Little Rock’s Central high school. In 1957, nine ordinary teenagers walked out of their home and stepped up to the front lines in the battle for civil rights for all Americans. I chose this topic because racism and segregation are something very important to me. Everyone no matter what color or nationality you are, should be treated with respect and should never be seen as unequal or unimportant. Everyone deserves kindness and should never have to tolerate disrespect in the first place.

I found great sources for this topic. It included documentaries, websites, primary sources, factual videos, and more. The sources were well put together but I did struggle with finding

This event did not start until 1957. The Little Rock Nine were the first nine African Americans to enter an all white school. The national guard was used as a safety precaution for the nine students entering the school. The teens had to return home due to mobs including the national guard. The nine finally went to school escorted by a national guard troop. Everyday they went they were still harassed and threatened. The Little Rock Nine inspired many African Americans to stand up for themselves and stand against racism. They became and intergral part of the fight for equal opportunity in American education. They also were a cause and effect situation that produced a proper education for every person of color in the

Television and newspaper reporters devoted substantial coverage to the “Little Rock Nine,” as the African American students were called. The Little Rock Nine continued to face physical and verbal attacks from white students throughout their studies at Central High. One of the students, Minnijean Brown, fought back and was expelled. The remaining eight students, however, attended the school for the rest of the academic year. At the end of the year, in 1958, senior Ernest Green became the first African American to graduate from Little Rock Central High School.

Governor Faubus was reelected in 1958, and, rather than permit desegregation, he closed all of Little Rock’s schools. Many school districts in the South followed Little Rock’s example, closing schools or implementing “school-choice” programs that subsidized white students’ attendance at private segregated academies, which were not covered by the Supreme Court’s decision. Little Rock Central High School did not reopen with a desegregated student body until 1960, and efforts to integrate schools and other public areas throughout the country continued through the