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LESSON PLAN: Little Rock, 1957

Video Segment

Eyes on the Prize, Volume 163, Chapter 2


Table of Contents

Summary
Questions for Discussion
Activities
Keywords
Profiles
Organizations
Maps
Graphs
Primary Documents


Summary

Southern elected officials denounced the 1954 Supreme Court Brown v. Topeka Board of Education decision. They defended what they saw as "the Southern way of life." The question was, Who would win--the Southern states or the United States?

In 1957, the Little Rock school board in Arkansas decided to admit nine Black students to its Central High School. Governor Orval Faubus called out the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the integration of Central High. The soldiers surrounded the high school and admitted only whites. An angry mob appeared at the school to harass the Black students. The local NAACP went to court to support the nine students.

President Eisenhower, reluctant to act at first, interceded, saying that mob violence would not overrule court decisions. Under protection of the federal government, the students were finally admitted and escorted to classes by federal troops. Some of the students recount their fears, feelings, and motivations as pioneers in implementing the Brown decision.


Questions for Discussion

  1. What role did President Eisenhower envision for the federal government in enforcing civil rights laws?

    Governor Faubus argued that he had no strong feelings for or against integration. He claimed that "each school district is an entity all its own governed by a board of directors, selected by the people, and if we're to have any democracy in this country, then the people must have some say in their own affairs."

    How would you answer Faubus? How do you define democracy? Where does local authority end and individual liberty begin? What is the role of the federal government in ensuring individual rights?

  2. Why did white residents of Little Rock want to keep Black students out of Central High? Were these arguments logical? Why do you think the Black students wanted to attend Central? Why did they persevere in the face of mob violence? Would you have gone back to Central High if you were Elizabeth Eckford?

  3. What sort of incidents took place during the school year? What did Melba Pattilo Beals learn from these incidents? Compare these lessons to what Craig Rains learned.

  4. Why were so many students, parents, and community leaders willing to make significant sacrifices to desegregate Central High School? Is it important for a community to have desegregated schools?


Activities

Have students pretend they are Elizabeth Eckford and they are keeping a diary. Ask them to write entries for the three days preceding and the three days following the day Elizabeth Eckford entered Central High.


Keywords


Online Profiles

Note: Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells also refused, in earlier times, to surrender to segregated seating.


Organization Descriptions


Maps

  • United States. In 1950 the population of the United States was 134,941,622 White and 15,042,692 Black (approximately 9.5 percent of the population).
  • Arkansas. Capital: Little Rock. Population in 1950: 1,481,507 White 426,639 Black. Principal Goods and Crops: oil, lumber, whetstones and antimony ore; cotton, rice, wheat and corn.


Graphs


Primary Documents


Bibliography

See Eyes on the Prize Bibliography

 

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