Little Rock, Arkansas
In 1948, Arkansas became the first southern state to admit African Americans to state universities without being required by a court order. By the 1950's some scout troops and labor unions in Arkansas had quietly ended their Jim Crow Practices. Little Rock citizens had elected two men to the school board who publicly backed desegregation-and the school superintendent, Virgil Blossom, began planning for desegregation soon after Brown. Governor Orval Faubus publicly showed support for segregation. He ordered the National Guard to turn away the Little Rock Nine. They were nine African American students who had volunteered to integrate Little Rock's Central High School as the first step in Blossom's plan. A federal judge ordered him to let the students into school. NAACP members called eight of the students and arranged to drive them to school. They could not reach the ninth student, and alone, she was confronted by many children. Alone, she was comforted by her two white friends.
By Lainey Gossett
By Lainey Gossett