Welcome!


Welcome to your Honors American Studies blog. We will use this tool throughout the course to discuss current events and reflect upon class discussion.

Friday, February 4, 2011

School Integration - Little Rock High School

Hello Group!

First of all, make sure your Wiki is up and running for Monday. We will be checking it during class. Second, please comment on this post with regard to the following:

1. Give a brief summary of your event that encapsulates your understanding. This should be in your own words.

2. Provide FIVE quotations (voices) that you think will be valuable additions to your script. Provide each quote and then explain who the speaker is and why the quote is relevant.

5 comments:

  1. Little Rock high school was one high school that become desegregated. Like many other schools national guard was brought in and it created a lot of tension. It is significant because in the case of Brown vs School Board they ruled in the favor of brown making the law that schools couldn't be segregated.

    ReplyDelete
  2. In 1957 nine African-American students decided that they wanted to integrate their hometown all white highschool in Little Rock, Arkansas. These nine students were lead through the school by the National Guard because of the threats that were seriously dangering their lives. During the year of school at Little ROck, these nine students faced so many obstacles to overcome, most importantly risking their lives for a high school education. This event from these brave nine students is one of the most famous movements for civil rights movement.

    President Eisenhower- I think a quotation from the President at the time of this situation would be very valuable to our play, because he is obviously the one who had to make critical decisions to allow this under his countries supervision

    President of Little Rock High School- I think a quation from the president of the highschool the nine students attended would be something cool to have, to see what his/her opinion on the situation was and see what they had to hear.

    Governor of Arkansas- Hearing a quote from the Governor of Arkansas would be important to have because he obviously had to of made some important decisions aswell as the President did.

    Ernest Green- He was the first African-American student of that group of nine and ever to graduate from Little Rock High, and hearing his quote at the end of graduation would be a great one to have because he was the leader of the "nine".

    Rest of the Little Rock nine- Quotes from other of the eight African-American students are important because hearing about their daily routines and struggles are very important

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Little Rock Nine were a group of African-American students who went to Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The students were prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, and their retiliation after "is considered to be one of the most important events in the African-American Civil Rights Movement." The first day of school the kids weren't allowed to enter, and mobs followed them. This piece relates alot to the Brown vs. Board of Education trials.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ernest Green- “They used to call Arkansas 'the land of opportunity,' and black people said, 'Opportunity for whom? Today, we can say 'opportunity for all,' and Arkansas can be proud of this moment.”

    He is relevant because he is one of the Little Rock Nine, who were the first 9 black students to go to the desegregated high school.

    Elizabeth Eckford-I turned back to the guards but their faces told me I wouldn't get any help from them. Then I looked down the block and saw a bench at the bus stop. I thought, If I can only get there I will be safe.' I don't know why the bench seemed a safe place to me, but I started walking toward it. I tried to close my mind to what they were shouting, and kept saying to myself, If I can only make it to the bench I will be safe.

    Another of the Little Rock Nine.

    Orval Faubus-I'm the Governor of the State pledged to uphold its laws, to keep the peace and order, and also the laws of the Nation. My personal views are not relevant to the problem. I have no objection; my son is now in an integrated college at Russellville

    The governer of arkasna at the time.

    Dwight D Eisenhower-I could have spoken from Rhode Island where I have been staying ... But I felt that, in speaking from the house of Lincoln, of Jackson, and of Wilson, my words would better convey both the sadness I feel in the action I was compelled today to make and the firmness with which I intend to pursue this course until the orders of the federal court at Little Rock can be executed without unlawful interference. (On sending troops to enforce integration in Little Rock AR High School)

    The president at the time.

    Supreme Court-Segregation of white and Negro children in the public schools of a State solely on the basis of race, pursuant to state laws permitting or requiring such segregation, denies to Negro children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment -- even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors of white and Negro schools may be equal.

    They ruled against segregation causing this incident.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nine black students in Little Rock,Arkansas would be integrated into the white high school. In result there were many threats toward the black students and their families. National guard and troops had to be brought in to control mobs of people heckling and hurting the black students and families.

    1. Orval Faubus (Governer) - "Many, many of the black people understood when i explained to them that my objective in the Little Rock crisis was to prevent violence...There would have been small, well-organized groups there that morning that school opened, armed to the teeth with repeating rifles and other firearms"

    2. Craig Rains (White student, On student council) - "But it was an ugly attitude. Especially when Elizabeth Eckford came to try to get into school. And the crowd began to heckle her, and cheer and shout, as she walked along.I was just dumbfounded.

    3.James Hicks(Black reporter for Amsterdam News)I mean, I'm bent double and he was trying to kick me in my stomach, in the groin. We started running, but there was hardly anywhere to run because they were surrounding us. We saw the FBI, who did nothing, but we finally ran away and god down to the black section of Little Rock.

    4.Ernest Green(1 of the Little Rock 9) - Minnie had taken this chili, dumped it on this dude's head. There was just absolute silence in the place. And then the help, all black, broke into applause. And the other white kids there didn't know what to do. I mean it was the first time that anybody, I'm sure, had seen somebody black retaliate in that sense.

    5.Marcia Lecky (Secretary of senior class) - You would see the soldiers in the hall. You would see them at cheerleader practice, or gym, or football games, but they never bothered us, and we thought they were there because Faubus was causing problems, and I think most of us were glad when the resolution came with President Eisenhower taking charge.

    ReplyDelete