Little Rock Nine Crisis: The Black Civil Rights Movement

In 1957, nine Black students tried to desegregate to a formerly White high school in a Southern state. The crisis that ensued included riots from White Southerners, a lack of action from president Eisenhower, harassment from other students when they got to school and international media coverage. There were many causes, consequences and parts of the Little Rock Nine Crisis. These included long term causes, such as slavery, short term consequences like the lost year, and parts of the LRNC, such as the riots. This crisis was a part of the Black Civil Rights Movement, a movement that inspired polynesians to stand up to unequal treatment in this country, making this event significant to New Zealand.

What Caused Little Rock Nine Crisis? Slavery

Slavery had begun before Africans and Native Americans had met White colonists, but as a web article titled Slavery; an American History states1, “Many aboriginal societies had practiced different forms of slavery for thousands of years before they had ever seen Europeans. The practice, however, represented a temporary condition and was used more as a badge of status than a money making enterprise.” Their version of slavery, was not hereditary or based on race. The main cause for slavery was the need for more workers to pick tobacco; a thriving industry in the South, with a need for labour intensive workers. By 1787, 40% of slaves worked in tobacco fields 2. As the need for labourers increased, the British colony tried to find ways to fill those positions by using Native Americans. However, many escaped back to their tribes, rose up against their captors, or couldn’t handle the harsh conditions and died. In 1619 the Americans problems were solved, as the Dutch brought the first African slaves to America in Jamestown, Virginia, in the form of four men and four women. Many of the problems first faced with the Native Americans soon became irrelevant. This was because African slaves came from a variety of places and therefore could not rise up as there was a language barrier, while they could survive the long days in the sun more than Native Americans or British Americans, and could not run back home, leading to less resistance. Slavery became even more prominent after the need for cotton increased . In the early 19th century the textile cotton boom spread all over Europe and the rest of the world, as cotton was cheaper than other fabrics, leading to many having more affordable clothing. Paul Derosa, an ex-economics teacher from Columbia University states that America was the, “Saudi Arabia of raw cotton.” America had the perfect environment to produce large amounts of cotton, and so it