Central High School Historic Site

Little Rock AR

Little Rock Central High School was the site of an historic confrontation in 1957. Basically, nine black students, “The Little Rock Nine”, were integrated into this all-white high school. But there was much drama.

Background: In 1954, the US Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education (Topeka KS) that segregation of schools was unconstitutional, so schools must integrate. In the south states were mostly slow to follow the Supreme Court ruling.

In 1957, Congress passed and President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. This law established the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department and empowered federal prosecutors to obtain court injunctions against interference with the right to vote. It also established a federal Civil Rights Commission with authority to investigate discriminatory conditions and recommend corrective measures. The final act was weakened by Congress due to lack of support among the Democrats.

On September 4, 1957, the first day of classes at Central High, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus called in the Arkansas National Guard to block the Black students’ entry into the high school. Later that month, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into the school. It drew national attention to the civil rights movement.
The Magnolia service station was one of the few businesses in the immediate neighborhood and had a pay telephone on site. During the early days of the desegregation crisis, when reporters from all over the state, nation, and world converged on Little Rock, many phoned in their reports from the station.
The school is still an active high school, the only active school that is inside a National Park in the US.