Little Rock Nine Research Paper

Equal education for all races has been a goal of the nation for an extremely long time. This lack of equality is still a critical problem today. It started years ago with Jim Crow laws segregating schools and legally lasted until Brown vs. Board of Education changed that in 1954. After the new law, desegregating schools, was passed, the first prominent case of integration of schools was by the Little Rock Nine of Little Rock, Arkansas. The Little Rock Nine was a group of nine black students that integrated into a prestigious white school when the desegregation was unwanted by many white people. The Little Rock Nine took a stand by fighting for equal education, getting national interest, and remaining in Central despite the obstacles, and abuse

This allowed blacks to vote, serve on juries and hold office. Ten years after the 14th amendment passed, Federal troops left the South. This allowed white people to take over again. In Louisiana, a law was passed that stopped white and black people from riding together in a train. In 1896, the Plessy vs. Ferguson case went to the U.S. Supreme Court to challenge this law. The Plessy vs. Ferguson case resulted in allowing segregation of facilities and places by using the phrase “separate but equal”. After the case, blacks lost a lot of their freedoms and rights because the states passed many laws that made a difference between blacks and whites. These state laws were called Jim Crow laws. These laws segregated blacks and whites on many situations such as, hospitals, bathrooms, marrying the other race, and schools (Costly). As a result of this, most schools attended by blacks were inferior. They had less supplies and financial support than the white schools and were overcrowded. These schools were overlooked by the governments

There was an anonymous call to the school that said that there were two sticks of dynamite in the school. Only one stick was found. Its purpose is said to create a panic, but not to actually blow up. This was the second call. The first anonymous call was five days before this incident. The search after the first call resulted in no explosives. (Dynamite Is Found in Locker At Little Rock High School).
The Little Rock Nine forced the south acknowledge “federally mandated integration”. The Little Rock Nine also helped to feed the flames of the Civil Rights Movement (Cosgrove). In May, 1958, Ernest Green was the first black student to graduate from Central. Also, after the first year of the Little Rock integration, Governor Faubus closed all of Little Rock’s schools for a year. This eventually leaded to the other eight students graduating in another school (Mack-Williams) (History.com).
Now, thirty years after the integration, Central is diverse with 56% black students and 43% white students. Central’s education is still on a high level. The high school provides 10% of the state’s National Merit Semifinalists. In the end, the Little Rock Nine encouraged equality in education. Schools are no longer allowed to be segregated by law (Little Rock Revisited 30 Years