September 1957
On September 4, 1957, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus deploys the National Guard to prevent nine Black students from entering Little Rock Central High School. President Eisenhower sends 1,200 101st Airborne soldiers. Inside the school, Melba Patillo Beals has acid sprayed in her eyes; Elizabeth Eckford faces a screaming mob alone; Minnijean Brown is expelled after pouring chili on a student who torments her. All nine face daily abuse: kicks, threats, spitting, burned lockers. Eight complete the year; Ernest Green becomes the first Black graduate in May 1958.
Nine students integrate Central High under federal troops as a mob and the governor resist.
Events
- September 4, 1957Little Rock Nine Face Daily Terror at Central High School
On September 4, 1957, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus deploys the National Guard to prevent nine Black students from entering Little Rock Central High School. President Eisenhower sends 1,200 101st Airborne soldiers. Inside the school, Melba Patillo Beals has acid sprayed in her eyes; Elizabeth Eckford faces a screaming mob alone; Minnijean Brown is expelled after pouring chili on a student who torments her. All nine face daily abuse: kicks, threats, spitting, burned lockers. Eight complete the year; Ernest Green becomes the first Black graduate in May 1958.
- September 4, 1957The Little Rock Nine
Nine students integrate Central High under federal troops as a mob and the governor resist.
- September 9, 1957The Civil Rights Act of 1957
The first federal civil-rights law since Reconstruction, focused on voting.