LITTLE ROCK NINEWendy Cole-Wester

SOC 313A Fall 2013

Dr. Therese Hoffman

Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896)

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) (USSC+)

Argued December 9, 1952

Reargued December 8, 1953

Decided May 17, 1954

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF KANSAS*  

Syllabus

Segregation of white and Negro children in the public schools of a State solely on the basis of race, pursuant to state laws permitting or requiring such segregation, denies to Negro children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment -- even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors of white and Negro schools may be equal.

(a) The history of the Fourteenth Amendment is inconclusive as to its intended effect on public education.

(b) The question presented in these cases must be determined not on the basis of conditions existing when the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted, but in the light of the full development of public education and its present place in American life throughout the Nation.

(c) Where a State has undertaken to provide an opportunity for an education in its public schools, such an opportunity is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.

(d) Segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race deprives children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal.

(e) The "separate but equal" doctrine adopted in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, has no place in the field of public education.

(f) The cases are restored to the docket for further argument on specified questions relating to the forms of the decrees.

Little Rock Nine

Melba Patillo, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Gloria Ray, Carlotta Walls , Terrance Roberts, Jefferson Thomas, Minnijean Brown , and Thelma Mothershed with Daisy Bates.

Little Rock Central High School

The 1957 Desegregation Crisis at Central High School

Little Rock, Arkansas

Little Rock Crisis

Elizabeth Eckford

Elizabeth Eckford transferred to Central High School her junior year 1957. Because all of the city’s high schools closed her senior year, Ms. Eckford moved to St Louis, where she obtained her GED.

Ernest Green

The only senior among the Little Rock Nine in 1957, Green attended Dunbar Junior High before entering Central at the age of 16. He became the first African- American graduate of Central High School in May of 1958.

Carlotta Walls

At fourteen, Carlotta Walls was the youngest of the "Little Rock Nine" as she began her sophomore year at Central High School. She graduated from Central in 1960

Terrence Roberts

Terrence Roberts attended Dunbar Junior High School and Horace Mann High School before entering Central High as a junior in 1957. As a result of the closing of Little Rock's high schools during the 1958-1959 school year, Roberts completed his senior year at Los Angeles High School in Los Angeles, California.

Jefferson Thomas

Jefferson Thomas attended Dunbar Junior High, where he served as president of the student council and was an outstanding track athlete. Thomas entered Central High School at fifteen as a sophomore. He, along with Carlotta Walls, graduated from Central in 1960.

Minnijean Brown

Minnijean Brown was sixteen years old when she began her junior year at Central High School. Although all of the Nine were subjected to verbal and physical harassment during their years at Central, Brown was first suspended, and then expelled for retaliating to the daily torment.

Melba Pattillo

Melba Pattillo was fifteen when she began her junior year at Central High School. A segregationist student threw acid into her eyes, attempting to blind her.

Gloria Ray

Gloria Ray was fifteen when she entered Central High School. Her father, son of a former slave, was fired from his job when she refused to withdraw from Central High. They moved to Kansas City where she graduated in 1960.

Thelma Mothershed

Thelma Mothershed attended Dunbar Junior High and Horace Mann High Schools and completed her junior year at Central. In order to earn the necessary credits for graduation she took correspondence courses and attended summer school in St. Louis. She received her diploma from Central High School by mail.

Little Rock Nine

Elizabeth Eckford

Attended Knox College in Illinois receiving BA in History from Central State University

Became first African American to work in a local St. Louis bank

Substitute teacher in Little Rock public schools

U.S. Army veteran Recipient of the NAACP’s

Springarn Medal Serves on the Board of

Directors of the Central High Museum and Visitor Center

Elizabeth and Hazel

Elizabeth and Hazel chronicles not just the day Elizabeth attempts to enter Central High School, but the months and years that came after in the two women's lives.

Ernest Green

Earned BA and MA from Michigan State University

Served as Asst Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training during Carter Administration

Appointed by President Clinton to serve as Chairman of the African Development Foundation

Chairman of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Capital Financing Advisory Board

Managing Director of Public Finance for Lehman Brothers in Washington, D.C.

Carlotta Walls LaNier

Attended two years at Michigan State University before completing her Bacholor of Science degree at the University of Northern Colorado

Involved in various aspects of the real estate industry

Member of various national and community organizations , including the Colorado Aids Project, Jack and Jill of America, the Urban League, and the NAACP.

Recipient of the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal

Terrence Roberts

Earned a BA in sociology from California State University in 1967

Earned his Masters in social welfare from UCLA School of Social Welfare in 1970

Earned his PhD in psychology from Southern Illinois University in 1976

Chair of masters in psychology program at Antioch University

Private practices in Pasadena, CA

CEO of management consulting firm, Terrance J Roberts & Associates

Jefferson Thomas Attended Wayne State University , then

transferred to attended Los Angeles State College to obtain a Bachelor Degree of Business Administration

Inducted into the United States Army in 1966.  He received training at Fort Riley, Kansas, and was promoted to staff sergeant, before being assigned to duty in South Vietnam, with the 9th Infantry Division

Volunteer mentor in the Village to Child Program, co-sponsored by Ohio Dominican University

Recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Ohio Dominican University in recognition of his life-long efforts in human rights and equality

Recipient of the NAACP Spingarn Medal Passed away September 5, 2010

Minnijean Brown Trickey

Bachelor of Social Work in Native Human Services from Laurentian University

Master of Social Work at Carleton University, in Ontario Canada.

served in the Clinton Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Workforce Diversity at the Department of the Interior

Recipient of Lifetime Achievement Tribute by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation,

Recipient of the International Wolf Award for contributions to racial harmony. 

With the Little Rock Nine, she received the NAACP Spingarn Medal

Melba Pattillo Beals

Earned BA in journalism from San Francisco State University

Earned MA from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Earned PhD from University of San Francisco

Worked as a reporter and communications consultant for NBC and public TV station

Author of Warriors Don’t Cry, a 1995 ALA Notable book and winner of the 1995 Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Award

Author of White is a State of Mind, sequel to Warriors Don’t Cry

Gloria Ray Karlmark

Graduate of Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Chicago

joined the IIT Research Institute as Assistant Mathematician on the APT IV Project (robotics, numerical control, and online technical documentation).

Recruited to join IBM’s Nordic Laboratory, Mrs. Karlmark completed “Patent Examiner” Program in 1975, and joined IBM’s International Patent Operations as European Patent Attorney

co-founded Computers in Industry, and international journal of practice and experience of computer applications

Retired in 1994 currently resides in Europe

Thelma Mothershed Wair

graduated from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale in 1964

earned her Master's degree in Guidance & Counseling and an Administrative Certificate in Education from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville in 1970 and 1985, respectively

served as an educator in the East St. Louis School System for 28 years before retiring in 1994

an instructor of survival skills for women at the American Red Cross Shelter for the homeless. 

Recipient of the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal

Little Rock Nine Foundation

Established in February 1999, the mission of the Foundation is to provide direct financial support for students to help them reach their educational goals.

On November 9, 1999, President Clinton honored the group with the Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of the selfless heroism they exhibited and the pain they suffered in their efforts to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957.

Little Rock Nine Receives Congressional Gold Medal

Click icon to add picture

Congressional Gold Medal

A Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian award given by Congress to any individual who performs an outstanding deed or act of service to the security, prosperity, and national interest of the United States .

To mark the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of Central High School , the US Mint issued the 2007 Little Rock Central High School Silver Dollar. Proceeds from the coin sales are to be used to improve the National Historic Site.

Little Rock Nine commemorative coin

Opened on September 24, 2007 across the intersection from the school, the visitor center contains interactive exhibits on the 1957 desegregation crisis.

Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site Visitor Center

Little Rock Nine MonumentArkansas State Capitol in Little Rock

Bibliography

Levy, Peter. (1998). The Civil Rights Movement. New York: Greenwood Press

Margolick, David (2011). Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock. New Haven: Yale University Press

http://littlerock9.org/Home.aspx

http://www.nps.gov/chsc/index.htm

http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/commemoratives/?action=LittleRock

http://clinton6.nara.gov/1999/11/1999-11-09-president-presents-congressional-medals-to-little-rock-nine.html

http://www.clintonlibrary.gov/littlerocknine.html

http://www.nationalcenter.org/brown.html

http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/online_documents/civil_rights_little_rock.html

http://www.blackpast.org/aah/little-rock-crisis-1957