Little Rock Nine: September 25, 1957

Jet, Sept 29, 1997

September 25, 1957

Escorted by federal troops, nine Black children integrated Central High School in Little Rock, AR, on this day. Although they were within their rights to attend the school, the governor of Arkansas, defying court orders, ordered the National Guard to deny the children entrance into the school. Federal troops, ordered by President Eisenhower to prevent interference with court-ordered integration of schools, escorted the children to classes everyday for the rest of the school year. Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock Nine, graduated from Central High School that year, the first Black to do so.