The Little Rock Nine

The Little Rock Nine were a group of black students to propel the program of desegregating the Little Rock Arkansas school system at Central High School level starting September 1957.  Orval Faubus, the Arknsas governer at the time, tried to keep the nine students out of the schools.  However, president Dwight D. Eisenhower was not going to allow this happen.  On September 25, 1957 the National Guard of Arkansas was federalized and deployed to protect the students.  The nine students are pictured here, Earnest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Elizabeth Eckford, Terrace Roberts, Carlotta Walls, Gloria Ray, Jerfferson Thomas, Melba Patilla, and Minnijean Brown, along with Daisy Bates.

This document was written by Daisy Bates to Roy Wilkins, the NCAAP National Director.  Daisy would become the president of the Arkansas NCAAP.  She supported the Little Rock Nine and acted as there advisor.  In this document she details what some of the students had to go through as they participated in the desegregation.

This is an image was taken on October 3rd, 1957.  The image shows some of the troops sent by the Federal government to protect the black students as they went to school in the all white Central High School.

This is an image of the orgional song, "Fables of Faubus."  It was written by jazz musician Charles Mingus in response to the actions around the desegration of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas.