Little Rock

The Child’s Fight For Freedom:

The Little Rock Nine

Back in the late nineteen fifties and sixties, during the civil rights movement, segregation was still obvious in public schools. This was even after the passing of the Fourteenth Amendment and the landmark Supreme Court case in 1954 when the coAurt voted to end racial segregation in public schools as a result of the hearing in Brown v. Board of Education (Little Rock Nine Foundation). In Little Rock, Arkansas, the fight to end the separation among young people was just beginning. The Little Rock Nine became major contributors in advancing desegregation in schools and enforcing the new law on desegregation during the civil rights movement.

Back in the late nineteen fifties in Arkansas, African American children and teens were not allowed to be admitted into all White schools. The laws were not changed until the Brown v. Board Of Education’s decision was made in 1954. Brown v. Board Of Education was a case made up of several other cases from Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. The description given about the case was that a group of African American students were not allowed entrance into a segregated school because of their race. The court voted in the students favor because they agreed that segregation in schools was unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment (B v. BOE: Case Brief Summary). States now were supposed to desegregate their public schools in order to follow the new law. African American students began applying to schools all around the country, including in Arkansas. The students were applying so quickly in Arkansas, even a year before the state had planned to begin their desegregation. The original plan was to start integrating the high schools, and over the following next six years, move down through the various grade levels. But because of all of the African American applicants, they began immediately...