primary source documents
"She Walked Alone"
In this excerpt, Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine, it describes her experience of walking alone to Central High on the morning of September 4, 1957. Since Eckford’s home did not have a phone, she had been unaware that Daisy Bates and the NAACP lawyers had planned for all nine students to meet several blocks from the school ahead of time. The other eight students of the Little Rock Nine had arrived at the school in a group, with NAACP escorts, but Elizabeth walked alone when she got off the bus a block from the school.
Letter from Daisy Bates to Roy Wilkins
The treatment of the Little Rock Nine.
The Long Shadow of Little Rock: A Memoir
At an event honoring Daisy Bates as "1990's Distinguished Citizen", then-Governor Bill Clinton called her "the most distinguished Arkansas citizen of all time."
Ernest Green High School Diploma
Ernest Green's Little Rock Central High School Diploma. He was the first African-American to graduate from Central High.
Newspaper Article
A newspaper article tells Eisenhower sends troops to Little Rock.
GOVERNOR ORVAL FAUBUS ON COURT DECISION
Governor Faubus assures President he will obey Integration Order but asks for patience by U.S.
"Mob rule cannot be allowed to override the decIsions of our courts"
A speech that Eisenhower gave to the nation on September 24, 1957, about the school desegregation crisis in
Little Rock, Arkansas.
Little Rock, Arkansas.
Arkansas National Guard Bars “Little Rock Nine” From School
On Sept. 4, 1957, the Arkansas National Guard, under the order of Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus, blocked nine black students from entering Little Rock Central High School.