Highlights Archives
Desegregation at Little Rock, September 25, 1957
September 25 marks the anniversary of a pivotal event in the history of American justice, the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Under the leadership of Wisconsin Historical Society Director Les Fishel and archivist Barbara Kaiser in the 1960s, the Society amassed one of the nation's largest and richest collections of archival material on the Civil Rights movement, including the tension at Little Rock.
Although segregated schools were prohibited under the Supreme Court's 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education ruling, most communities were slow to comply. By 1957 Little Rock, Arkansas, had desegregated its buses, zoo, library and parks, and its school board had endorsed a plan to integrate the public schools, starting with the high school. The night before school was to start on September 3, however, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus claimed caravans of anti-integration protesters were headed toward Little Rock and, fearing violence, he called out the Arkansas National Guard to prevent black students from registering. A tense standoff between the Guard and protesters on one side, and students and NAACP leaders on the other, lasted until September 20 when the Guard troops were withdrawn at the insistence of federal authorities.
When school opened on September 23, 1,000 Little Rock police tried to hold back protesters while nine black students briefly entered the school. When the mob surged toward the school, the police were unable to contain them and the students were quickly spirited out a side door to safety. The next day President Eisenhower sent in federal troops, and on September 25, 1957, the nine students began classes under the protection of 1,000 soldiers from the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division.
These events are well-documented in the Society's archival collections. The most important of these collections are the papers of Arkansas NAACP President Daisy Bates, who led the effort to integrate the Little Rock schools. Her records fill several boxes and six microfilm reels, and include everything from transcripts of phone calls to minutes of meetings. Particularly compelling are 120 photographs, a selection of which are mounted in Wisconsin Historical Images. Not all of Bates' memorabilia was on paper. The collection also includes a rock thrown through her window with a note from the Ku Klux Klan threatening that, next time, it wouldn't be a rock but dynamite.
Other archival materials on the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School include manuscripts by journalists Relman Morin and Philip Benjamin as well as contemporary film footage in the collection of Glenn Silber. Descriptions of these materials can be found in ArCat, our online catalog of unpublished records.
:: Posted September 23, 2005
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