Little Rock Central High School (LRCH) is an accredited comprehensive public high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States. The school was the site of forced desegregation in 1957 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation by race in public schools was unconstitutional three years earlier. This was during the period of heightened activism in the civil rights movement.
Rafer Lewis Johnson was an American decathlete and film actor. He was the 1960 Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon, having won silver in 1956. He had previously won a gold in the 1955 Pan American Games. He was the USA team's flag bearer at the 1960 Olympics and lit the Olympic cauldron at the Los Angeles Games in 1984.
Elizabeth Ann Eckford is an American civil rights activist and one of the Little Rock Nine, a group of African American students who, in 1957, were the first black students ever to attend classes at the previously all-white Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The integration came as a result of the 1954 United States Supreme Court ruling Brown v. Board of Education. Eckford's public ordeal was captured by press photographers on the morning of September 4, 1957, after she was prevented from entering the school by the Arkansas National Guard. A dramatic snapshot by Will Counts of the Arkansas Democrat showed the young girl being followed and threatened by an angry white mob; this and other photos of the day's startling events were circulated around the US and the world by the press.
Daisy Bates was an American civil rights activist, publisher, journalist, and lecturer who played a leading role in the Little Rock Integration Crisis of 1957.
Ernest Gideon Green is one of the Little Rock Nine, a group of African-American students who, in 1957, were the first black students ever to attend classes at Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Green was the first African-American to graduate from the school in 1958. In 1999, he and the other members of the Little Rock Nine were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President Bill Clinton.
Jefferson Allison Thomas was one of the Little Rock Nine, a group of African-American students who, in 1957, were the first black students ever to attend classes at Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. In 1999, Thomas and the other students of the Little Rock Nine were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President Bill Clinton.
Carlotta Walls LaNier is the youngest of the Little Rock Nine, a group of African-American students who, in 1957, were the first black students ever to attend classes at Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States. She was the first black female to graduate from Central High School. In 1999, LaNier and the rest of the Little Rock Nine were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President Bill Clinton. LaNier was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2004 and the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2015.
Ronald Norwood Davies was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota. He is best known for his role in the Little Rock Integration Crisis in the fall of 1957. Davies ordered the desegregation of the previously all-white Little Rock Central High.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a public research university in Little Rock, Arkansas. Established as Little Rock Junior College by the Little Rock School District in 1927, the institution became a private four-year university under the name Little Rock University in 1957. It returned to public status in 1969 when it merged with the University of Arkansas System under its present name. The former campus of Little Rock Junior College is now (2019) the campus of Philander Smith University.
Melba Joy Patillo Beals is an American journalist and educator who was a member of the Little Rock Nine, a group of black students who were the first to racially integrate Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Thelma Mothershed-Wair is the eldest member of the Little Rock Nine group who attended Little Rock's Central High School following the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education court case. The Little Rock Nine was a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, then Governor of Arkansas. They then attended after the intervention of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Dunbar Gifted & Talented Education International Studies Magnet Middle School is a magnet middle school for students in grades 6 through 8 located in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States. Dunbar Magnet Middle School is administered by the Little Rock School District. It is named for the nationally known African-American poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Harry Scott Ashmore was an American journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize for his editorials in 1957 on the school integration conflict in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Little Rock is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 204,405 in 2022. The six-county Little Rock metropolitan area is the 81st-most populous in the United States with 748,031 residents according to the 2020 census.
The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas. They then attended after the intervention of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Glenn Schroeder Dumke was an American historian, educator, university president, and chancellor of the California State University system. Dumke was the 6th President of San Francisco State University, serving from 1957 to 1961. He served as the second chancellor of the California State University system from 1962 to 1982, for most of its first twenty years. He developed common standards for the colleges and universities in the system, supported affirmative action to recruit women and minority students, and assisted the establishment of four new campuses.
Ronald Roy Stillwell was an American Major League Baseball player who played parts of two seasons for the Washington Senators. A shortstop, he batted and threw right-handed, stood 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall and weighed 165 pounds (75 kg). Stillwell also help build the baseball programs at Thousand Oaks High School, Moorpark College and California Lutheran University. As a player, he played shortstop at University of Southern California (USC) and captained its 1961 national championship team. A week after graduating, he signed a contract with Major League Baseball’s Washington Senators. His MLB career was limited to fourteen games.
In the United States, school integration is the process of ending race-based segregation within American public and private schools. Racial segregation in schools existed throughout most of American history and remains an issue in contemporary education. During the Civil Rights Movement school integration became a priority, but since then de facto segregation has again become prevalent.
Will Counts (Ira Wilmer Counts Jr.; August 24, 1931—October 6, 2001) was an American photojournalist most renowned for drawing the nation's attention to the desegregation crisis that was happening at Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. Documenting the integration effort in the 1950s, he captured the harassment and violence that African Americans in the South were facing at this time. He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for these photographs.
Relman George Morin was an American journalist who spent most of his career writing for the Associated Press, serving as bureau chief of its offices in Tokyo, Paris, Washington, D.C., and New York.
