The Little Rock Nine

The Little Rock Nine Three years after the courts outlawed segregated schools, nine black students joined Central High. In the televised news, Governor Orval Faubus said that he called in the National Guard because he heard that white supremacists from all over the state were descending on Little Rock. He declared Central off limits to blacks and said that if any black attempted to enter they would be held back. Unfortunately, Elizabeth Eckford, one of …

…Pattillo, stabbed her, and sprayed acid in her eyes. The acid was so strong that had her guard not splashed water on her face immediately, she would have been blind for the rest of her life. The other eight all finished the school year. In May, despite numerous protests and under the watchful eye of federal guardsmen, Ernest Green became the first black graduate of Central High, the sole minority student in his 602 member class.