the little rock nine biography

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Little Rock Nine

By: History.com Editors

Updated: February 1, 2023 | Original: January 29, 2010

The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine Black students who enrolled at formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in September 1957. Their attendance at the school was a test of Brown v. Board of Education , a landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. On September 4, 1957, the first day of classes at Central High, Governor Orval Faubus called in the Arkansas National Guard to block the Black students’ entry into the high school. Later that month, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into the school. It drew national attention to the civil rights movement .

Desegregation of Schools

In its Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision, issued May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation of America’s public schools was unconstitutional.

Until the court’s decision, many states across the nation had mandatory segregation laws, or Jim Crow laws , requiring African American and white children to attend separate schools. Resistance to the ruling was so widespread that the court issued a second decision in 1955, known as Brown II, ordering school districts to integrate “with all deliberate speed.”

Little Rock Central High School

In response to the Brown decisions and pressure from the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP ), the Little Rock, Arkansas , school board adopted a plan for gradual integration of its schools.

The first institutions to integrate would be the high schools, beginning in September 1957. Among these was Little Rock Central High School, which opened in 1927 and was originally called Little Rock Senior High School.

Two pro-segregation groups formed to oppose the plan: The Capital Citizens Council and the Mother’s League of Central High School.

Who Were the Little Rock Nine?

Despite the virulent opposition, nine students registered to be the first African Americans to attend Central High School. Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Patillo, Gloria Ray, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas and Carlotta Walls had been recruited by Daisy Gaston Bates, president of the Arkansas NAACP and co-publisher of the Arkansas State Press , an influential African American newspaper.

Daisy Bates and others from the Arkansas NAACP carefully vetted the group of students and determined they all possessed the strength and determination to face the resistance they would encounter. In the weeks prior to the start of the new school year, the students participated in intensive counseling sessions guiding them on what to expect once classes began and how to respond to anticipated hostile situations.

The group soon became famous as the Little Rock Nine.

Orval Faubus

On September 2, 1957, Governor Orval Faubus announced that he would call in the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the African American students’ entry to Central High, claiming this action was for the students’ own protection. In a televised address, Faubus insisted that violence and bloodshed might break out if Black students were allowed to enter the school.

The Mother’s League held a sunrise service at the school on September 3 as a protest against integration. But that afternoon, federal judge Ronald Davies issued a ruling that desegregation would continue as planned the next day.

Elizabeth Eckford

The Little Rock Nine arrived for the first day of school at Central High on September 4, 1957. Eight arrived together, driven by Bates.

Elizabeth Eckford’s family, however, did not have a telephone, and Bates could not reach her to let her know of the carpool plans. Therefore, Eckford arrived alone.

The Arkansas National Guard, under orders of Governor Faubus, prevented any of the Little Rock Nine from entering the doors of Central High. One of the most enduring images from this day is a photograph of Eckford, alone with a notebook in her hand, stoically approaching the school as a crowd of hostile and screaming white students and adults surround her.

Eckford later recalled that one of the women spat on her. The image was printed and broadcast widely in the United States and abroad, bringing the Little Rock controversy to national and international attention.

Ronald Davies

In the following weeks, federal judge Ronald Davies began legal proceedings against Governor Faubus, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower attempted to persuade Faubus to remove the National Guard and let the Little Rock Nine enter the school.

Judge Davies ordered the Guard removed on September 20, and the Little Rock Police Department took over to maintain order. The police escorted the nine African American students into the school on September 23, through an angry mob of some 1,000 white protesters gathered outside. Amidst ensuing rioting, the police removed the nine students.

The following day, President Eisenhower sent in 1,200 members of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and placed them in charge of the 10,000 National Guardsmen on duty. Escorted by the troops, the Little Rock Nine attended their first full day of classes on September 25.

Numerous legal challenges to integration continued throughout the year, and Faubus repeatedly expressed his wish that the Little Rock Nine be removed from Central High.

Although several of the Black students had positive experiences on their first day of school, according to a September 25, 1957, report in The New York Times , they experienced routine harassment and even violence throughout the rest of the year.

Melba Patillo, for instance, was kicked, beaten and had acid thrown in her face. At one point, white students burned an African American effigy in a vacant lot across from the school. Gloria Ray was pushed down a flight of stairs, and the Little Rock Nine were barred from participating in extracurricular activities.

Minnijean Brown was expelled from Central High School in February 1958 for retaliating against the attacks. Harassment went beyond the students: Gloria Ray’s mother was fired from her job with the State of Arkansas when she refused to remove her daughter from the school. The 101st Airborne and the National Guard remained at Central High School for the duration of the year.

Ernest Green

On May 25, 1958, Ernest Green, the only senior among the Little Rock Nine, became the first African American graduate of Central High.

In September 1958, one year after Central High was integrated, Governor Faubus closed all of Little Rock’s high schools for the entire year, pending a public vote, to prevent African American attendance. Little Rock citizens voted 19,470 to 7,561 against integration and the schools remained closed.

Other than Green, the rest of the Little Rock Nine completed their high school careers via correspondence or at other high schools across the country. Eckford joined the Army and later earned her General Education Equivalency diploma. Little Rock’s high schools reopened in August 1959.

Did you know? Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. attended graduation ceremonies at Central High School in May 1958 to see Ernest Green, the only senior among the Little Rock Nine, receive his diploma.

Little Rock Nine Aftermath

Several of the Little Rock Nine went on to distinguished careers.

Green served as assistant secretary of the federal Department of Labor under President Jimmy Carter . Brown worked as deputy assistant secretary for workforce diversity in the Department of the Interior under President Bill Clinton . Patillo worked as a reporter for NBC.

The group has been widely recognized for their significant role in the civil rights movement . In 1999, President Clinton awarded each member of the group the Congressional Gold Medal. The nine also all received personal invitations to attend the inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009.

Jefferson Thomas became the first of the Little Rock Nine to die when he succumbed to pancreatic cancer at the age of 67 on September 5, 2010. After graduating from Central High, Thomas served in the Army in Vietnam, earned a business degree and worked as an accountant for private companies and the Pentagon .

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The Little Rock Nine

In 1954 the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools were illegal. The case, Brown v. The Board of Education, has become iconic for Americans because it marked the formal beginning of the end of segregation.

But the gears of change grind slowly. It wasn't until September 1957 when nine teens would become symbols, much like the landmark decision we know as Brown v. The Board of Education, of all that was in store for our nation in the years to come.

The "Little Rock Nine," as the nine teens came to be known, were to be the first African American students to enter Little Rock's Central High School. Three years earlier, following the Supreme Court ruling, the Little Rock school board pledged to voluntarily desegregate its schools. This idea was explosive for the community and, like much of the South, it was fraught with anger and bitterness.

On September 2, 1957 the night prior to what was to be the teens' first day in Central High classrooms, Arkansas governor Orval Faubus ordered the state's National Guard to block their entrance. Faubus said it was for the safety of the nine students.

On September 4, just 24 hours after a federal judge ordered the Little Rock Nine to begin attending Central High immediately, a belligerent mob, along with the National Guard, again prevented the teens from entering the school.

Sixteen days later a federal judge ordered the National Guard removed. Once again on September 23, the Little Rock Nine attempted to enter the school. Though escorted by Little Rock police into a side door, another angry crowd gathered and tried to rush into Central High. Fearing for the lives of the nine students, school officials sent the teens home. They did, however, manage to attend classes for about three hours.

Finally, 52 years ago today, on September 25, 1957, following a plea from Little Rock's mayor, Woodrow Mann, President Dwight Eisenhower federalized the National Guard and sent U.S. Army troops to the scene. Personally guarded by soldiers from the National Guard soldiers and the Army's 101st Airborne, the Little Rock Nine began regular class attendance at Central High.

Four students and an Army escort on their way to Central High, with a crowd waiting in front of the school.

However, their ordeal was far from over. Each day the nine teens were harassed, jeered, and threatened by many of the white students as they took small steps into deeper, more turbulent waters. That spring, on May 27, 1958, Ernest Green became the first African American graduated from Central High.

Try to imagine the torrent of emotions that ran through those young men and women. Imagine the courage they had to muster each day. Try to picture the white students who jeered and harassed them. Imagine also what it would have been like to be a white student or teacher who supported the Little Rock Nine.

The task of a great museum is to not merely revisit historic events, but rather to help stir our minds and souls. African American history is vital to understanding America's history. Our nation's epic stories should be presented in a way that enables us when viewing an exhibition to be immersed in the moment, to be able to feel some of the emotion of the event and, perhaps, see it from a new or different perspective. We hope the visitor experience will open the door to conversation and understanding.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture will be far more than a collection of objects. The Museum will be a powerful, positive force in the national discussion about race and the important role African Americans have played in the American story — a museum that will make all Americans proud.

Lonnie Bunch Founding Director

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The End of Legal Segregation 

In 1954, the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Supreme Court decision outlawed segregation in public education. Little Rock School District Superintendent Virgil Blossom devised a plan of gradual integration that would begin at Central High School in 1957. The school board called for volunteers from all-black Dunbar Junior High and Horace Mann High School to attend Central. 

Prospective students were told they would not be able to participate in extracurricular activities if they transferred to Central such as football, basketball, or choir. Many of their parents were threatened with losing their jobs, and some students decided to stay at their own schools.

 “[Blossom said] you’re not going to be able to go to the football games or basketball games. You’re not going to be able to participate in the choir or drama club, or be on the track team. You can’t go to the prom. There were more cannots…” Carlotta Walls LaNier 

“When my tenth-grade teacher in our Negro school said there was a possibility of integration, I signed up. We all felt good. We knew that Central High School had so many more courses, and dramatics and speech and tennis courts and a big, beautiful stadium.” Minnijean Brown to Look Magazine, June 24, 1958

The First Day of School 

On September 3, 1957, the Little Rock Nine arrived to enter Central High School, but they were turned away by the Arkansas National Guard. Governor Orval Faubus called out the Arkansas National Guard the night before to, as he put it, “maintain and restore order…” The soldiers barred the African American students from entering. 

"I was not prepared for what actually happened." Elizabeth Eckford

“I thought he [Faubus] was there to protect me. How wrong I was.”  Thelma Mothershed Wair 

The students arrived at Central alone on the first day. By prior arrangement, they gathered at the 16th Street entrance with several local ministers who accompanied them. Elizabeth Eckford arrived at the other end of the block by herself. She was met by a mob screaming obscenities and threats, chanting, “Two, four, six, eight, we ain’t gonna integrate!” 

“We didn’t know that his [Faubus’] idea of keeping the peace was keeping the blacks out.”  Jefferson Thomas 

More than two weeks went by before the Little Rock Nine again attempted to enter Central High School. On September 23, 1957, the Little Rock Nine entered the school. Outside, rioting broke out and the Little Rock police removed the Nine for their safety. 

The President Becomes Involved 

On September 24, 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered units of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division -the “Screaming Eagles”- into Little Rock and federalized the Arkansas National Guard. In a televised speech delivered to the nation, President Eisenhower stated, “Mob rule cannot be allowed to override the decisions of the courts.” 

On September 25, 1957, under federal troop escort, the Little Rock Nine made it inside for their first full day of school. The 101st Airborne left in October and the federalized Arkansas National Guard troops remained throughout the year. 

Inside the School  

The Little Rock Nine had assigned guards to walk them from class to class. The guards could not accompany the students inside the classrooms, bathrooms, or locker rooms. They would stand outside the classrooms during class time. In spite of this, the Little Rock Nine endured verbal and physical attacks from some of their classmates throughout the school year. Although some white students tried to help, few white students befriended any of the Nine. Those who did received similar treatment as the Nine, such as hate mail and threats. 

One of the Little Rock Nine, Minnijean Brown, was suspended in December for dropping chili on some boys after they refused to let her pass to her seat in the cafeteria. She was later expelled in February 1958 for calling a girl who had hit her with a purse “white trash.” After Brown’s expulsion, students passed around cards that read, “One Down, Eight to Go.” 

Brown finished high school at New Lincoln School in New York City, while living with Drs. Kenneth and Mamie Clark. The Clarks were the social psychologists whose “doll test” work demonstrated for the Supreme Court in Brown that racial prejudice and segregation caused African-American children to develop a sense of inferiority. 

The remaining eight students completed the school year at Central. Senior Ernest Green was the first African American student to graduate from Central High School. 

“It’s been an interesting year. I’ve had a course in human relations first hand.”  Ernest Green, Life Magazine, June, 1958 

The Aftermath 

The following year, the city’s high schools were closed to prevent further desegregation while the NAACP continued to pursue the legal case to integrate Little Rock’s schools. 

When the schools reopened, Carlotta Walls and Jefferson Thomas returned to Central and graduated in 1960. Thelma Mothershed received her diploma from Central High School by taking correspondence courses to complete her studies. 

The rest of the Little Rock Nine completed their high school educations at different schools. The Little Rock Nine have received numerous accolades and awards, from the renowned NAACP Spingarn Medal to the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal. 

Little Rock Nine Biographies 

Minnijean Brown Trickey graduated from New Lincoln High School in 1959. She received a Bachelor of Social Work degree in Native Human Services from Laurentian University and a Master of Social Work degree at Carleton University, in Ontario Canada.  Brown Trickey has worked in various settings committed to peacemaking, gender and social justice advocacy, youth leadership, diversity education and training, cross-cultural communication, and environmental issues. She served in Clinton Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Workforce Diversity in the Department of the Interior. Brown Trickey continues to work as a teacher, writer, and motivational speaker; she is the subject of the critically acclaimed documentary, Journey to Little Rock: The Untold Story of Minnijean Brown Trickey . 

After 60 years, the infamous photo of Elizabeth Eckford walking through the mob in front of Little Rock Central High School still serves as a symbol of white resistance against integration in the Civil Rights Movement. Along with the other eight students, Elizabeth faced her share of adversity within the walls of Central High and can recall numerous incidents of harassment and hostility at the hands of her white peers. After Governor Faubus closed all public high schools in Little Rock to prevent further integration during the 1958-1959 school year, Elizabeth moved to St. Louis, Missouri where she obtained a GED. Eckford served in the U.S. Army as a pay clerk, information specialist, and newspaper writer. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. For her great contributions to social justice, Eckford has received many prestigious awards such as the Congressional Gold Medal, the NAACP Spingarn Medal, and the Humanitarian Award presented by the National Conference for Community and Justice. Today, Eckford is still a strong proponent of tolerance in every aspect of life. 

Ernest Green is the first African American to graduate from Little Rock Central High School (May 1958). He holds a Bachelor of Science in Social Science and Master of Science in Sociology from Michigan State University as well as honorary doctorates from Michigan State University, Tougaloo College, and Central State University. Green served as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training during the Carter Administration. He was appointed to Chairman of the African Development Foundation by President Bill Clinton and by Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley to serve as Chairman of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Capital Financing Advisory Board. Green is a recipient of the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal, the Boy Scouts of America’s Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, the Urban League’s Frederick Douglass Freedom Medal, the John D. Rockefeller Public Service Award, and the Congressional Gold Medal.  

Thelma Mothershed Wair received her diploma from Little Rock Central High School in 1960 after completing correspondence courses and transferrable summer school credits. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Home Economics Education from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and received a master’s degree in Guidance and Counseling plus an Administrative Certificate in Education from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. Wair worked in the East St. Louis school system for 28 years – 10 years as a Home Economics teacher and 18 years as a counselor for elementary career education - before retiring in 1994. She also served at the St. Clair County Jail/Juvenile Detention Center in St. Clair County, Illinois and was an instructor of survival skills for women at the American Red Cross. In addition to the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal and the Congressional Gold Medal, Wair has received numerous awards for her professional contributions and community service including the Outstanding Role Model award from the East St. Louis Chapter of the Top Ladies of Distinction and an award from the Early Childhood/Pre-Kindergarten staff from the East St. Louis School District. She collaborated with Richard J. Hansen for a book narrating her experiences from Central High School entitled Education Has No Color: The Story of Thelma Mothershed Wair, One of the Little Rock Nine.

Dr. Melba Pattillo Beals finished her high school education at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, California. Beals earned a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from San Francisco State University, a Master of Arts in Communications from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in International Multicultural Studies from the University of San Francisco. She has worked as an on-camera television reporter for KQED’s Newsroom, as an NBC-TV news reporter, and as a radio news talk show host for KGO, ABC radio, San Francisco. Dr. Beals founded the Department of Communications and Media Studies at the Dominican University of California. She has written four books based on her experiences at Central High School.   Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High is a firsthand account of the experience that Beals and the Little Rock Nine encountered at Central High School. Other works include  March Forward, Girl , the prequel to Warriors Don’t Cry ; White is a State of Mind , the sequel to Warriors Don’t Cry ; and I Will Not Fear , an examination of her faith through her journey of terror, oppression, and persecution. Dr. Beals is the recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, the Spingarn Medal, the Congressional Gold Medal, and is a communications consultant and motivational speaker. 

Gloria Ray Karlmark graduated from Kansas City Central High School in 1960. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Mathematics from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT); post-graduation, she joined the ITT Research Institute as Assistant Mathematician on the APT IV Project (robotics, numerical control, and online technical documentation) and collaborated with Boeing in Seattle, McDonnell-Douglas in Santa Monica, and the NASA Automation center in St. Louis. Karlmark has served as a teacher, mathematician, systems analyst, and technical writer. She founded and served as the Editor-in-Chief for Computers in Industry , an international journal of computer science and engineering. Karlmark also worked in the Netherlands for Philips Telecommunications in Hilversum and Philips Lighting in Eindhoven.

Dr. Terrence Roberts graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1959. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from California State University and a master’s degree in Social Welfare from the University of California at Los Angeles. In 1976, Roberts was awarded a Ph.D. in psychology from Southern Illinois University and later became Department Chair of the Psychology program at Antioch University, Los Angeles. He is the author of Lessons from Little Rock , a memoir of the 1957-58 school year at Central, and Simple, Not Easy , a reflection on community, social responsibility, and tolerance. Dr. Roberts is CEO of Terrence J. Roberts & Associates, a management consultant firm devoted to fair and equitable practices. He maintains a private psychology practice, conducts lectures, and presents workshops and seminars on a wide variety of topics. Dr. Roberts is the recipient of the Spingarn Medal and the Congressional Gold Medal.  

Jefferson Thomas returned to graduate from Little Rock Central High School in 1960. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Los Angeles State College and served as a staff sergeant in South Vietnam with the 9th Infantry Division, United States Army.  Thomas, with his father, operated the family-owned Retail Sales Business, worked as an Accounting Clerk and Supervisor for Mobil Oil Corporation - Los Angeles Credit Card Center, and later as an Accounting Clerk with the Department of Defense.  He was the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Ohio Dominican University in recognition of his life-long efforts in human rights and equality.  Jefferson Allison Thomas died on September 5, 2010 in Columbus, Ohio.

Carlotta Walls LaNier returned to graduate from Little Rock Central High School in 1960. LaNier attended Michigan State University for two years before moving with her family to Denver. In 1968, she earned a Bachelor of Science from Colorado State College, now the University of Northern Colorado. In 1977, she founded LaNier and Company, a real estate brokerage firm. LaNier serves as president of the Little Rock Nine Foundation and is a member of the Denver Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, and the Johnson Legacy, Inc. Board of Directors. In addition to the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal and the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to her as a member of the Little Rock Nine, LaNier is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Northern Colorado and is an inductee in the Colorado Woman’s Hall of Fame, the Girl Scouts Women of Distinction and the National Women's Hall of Fame. She is the author of A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School . 

Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site

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Last updated: April 15, 2021

Little Rock Nine

Imagine showing up to your first day of school and being greeted by an angry mob and the National Guard. On September 4, 1957 nine African American students arrived at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. They made their way through a crowd shouting obscenities and even throwing objects. Once the students reached the front door the National Guard prevented them from entering the school and were forced to go home. The students returned on September 29 th . This time they were protected by federal troops. The students were able to enter the school, finally integrating Central High School. This group of students became known as the “Little Rock Nine.”

Many schools in the South refused to admit black students, even though the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision decreed school segregation unconstitutional. Despite resistance Civil Rights organizations worked to enroll black students in segregated schools. In Arkansas, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) recruited young girls and boys to integrate schools. Daisy Bates was the president of the Arkansas NAACP chapter. She was an expert organizer. Under Bates, the NAACP sued the Little Rock school board. Then she and her husband recruited nine students to integrate the all-white Central High School.

Bates took on the responsibility of preparing the “Little Rock Nine” for the violence and intimidation they would face inside and outside the school. She taught the students non-violent tactics and even became actively involved with Central High School’s Parent organization. When the students were barred from entering the school the first time, Bates created a strategy to protect them from protestors.

Protest at the State Capitol

Although the Supreme Court deemed segregation unconstitutional, the Arkansas governor refused to let the students enter. This clash between state and federal authorities culminated with President Dwight D. Eisenhower sending federal troops to protect the “Little Rock Nine.” With the protection from the federal troops the nine African American students were able to attend Central High School. 

By Arlisha Norwood, NWHM Fellow

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Daisy Bates

(1914-1999)

Who Was Daisy Bates?

Daisy Bates married journalist Christopher Bates and they operated a weekly African American newspaper, the Arkansas State Press . Bates became president of the Arkansas chapter of the NAACP and played a crucial role in the fight against segregation, which she documented in her book The Long Shadow of Little Rock .

Born Daisy Lee Gatson on November 11, 1914, in Huttig, Arkansas. Bates’s childhood was marked by tragedy. Her mother was sexually assaulted and murdered by three white men and her father left her. She was raised by friends of the family.

As a teenager, Bates met Lucious Christopher “L.C.” Bates, an insurance agent and an experienced journalist. The couple married in the early 1940s and moved to Little Rock, Arkansas. Together they operated the Arkansas State Press , a weekly African American newspaper. The paper championed civil rights, and Bates joined in the civil rights movement.

NAACP Presidency

Bates became the president of Arkansas chapter of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1952.

As the head of the NAACP’s Arkansas branch, Bates played a crucial role in the fight against segregation. In 1954, the United States Supreme Court declared that school segregation was unconstitutional in the landmark case known as Brown v. Board of Education. Even after that ruling, African American students who tried to enroll in white schools were turned away in Arkansas. Bates and her husband chronicled this battle in their newspaper.

Little Rock Nine

Bates’ home became the headquarters for the battle to integrate Central High School and she served as a personal advocate and supporter to the students. President Dwight D. Eisenhower became involved in the conflict and ordered federal troops to go to Little Rock to uphold the law and protect the Little Rock Nine. With U.S. soldiers providing security, the Little Rock Nine left from Bates’ home for their first day of school on September 25, 1957. Bates remained close with the Little Rock Nine, offering her continuing support as they faced harassment and intimidation from people against desegregation.

Later Activism

Bates also received numerous threats, but this would not stop her from her work. The newspaper she and her husband worked on was closed in 1959 because of low adverting revenue. Three years later, her account of the school integration battle was published as The Long Shadow of Little Roc k. For a few years, she moved to Washington, D.C., to work for the Democratic National Committee and on antipoverty projects for Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration.

Death and Legacy

Bates returned to Little Rock in the mid-1960s and spent much of her time on community programs. After the death of her husband in 1980, she also resuscitated their newspaper for several years, from 1984 to 1988. Bates died on November 4, 1999, Little Rock, Arkansas.

For her career in social activism, Bates received numerous awards, including an honorary degree from the University of Arkansas. She is best remembered as a guiding force behind one of the biggest battles for school integration in the nation’s history.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Daisy Bates
• Birth Year: 1914
• Birth date: November 11, 1914
• Birth State: Arkansas
• Birth City: Huttig
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Female
• Best Known For: Daisy Bates was an African American civil rights activist and newspaper publisher who documented the battle to end segregation in Arkansas.
• Journalism and Nonfiction
• Civil Rights
• Astrological Sign: Scorpio
• Death Year: 1999
• Death date: November 4, 1999
• Death State: Arkansas
• Death City: Little Rock
• Death Country: United States

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Daisy Bates Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/activists/daisy-bates
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• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: October 26, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014

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'They Didn't Want Me There': Remembering The Terror Of School Integration

Dave Davies

In 1957, three years after the Supreme Court declared segregated schools unconstitutional, Melba Pattillo Beals was one of nine black students who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Ark.

DAVE DAVIES, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm Dave Davies, in for Terry Gross, who's off this week. In 1957, three years after the Supreme Court declared segregated schools unconstitutional, nine black students were chosen by the NAACP to try and integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. Enrolling was one thing. Attending was something else.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: We just got a report here on this end that the students are in.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Yelling, unintelligible).

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (Unintelligible). Turn it that way. (Unintelligible). You can see...

DAVIES: The students were met by an angry white mob. And it took the presence of federal troops to get them into classes for more than one day. Our guest today is Melba Pattillo Beals, one of those students who came to be known as the Little Rock Nine. She wrote in her book "Warriors Don't Cry," that every day, she got up, polished her saddle shoes and went off to war. After that school year, Pattillo Beals went to California, where she got an education and pursued careers as a TV journalist, magazine writer, communications executive and university professor.

But as you'll hear, her year at Central High left emotional scars that were long-lasting. Melba Pattillo Beals has a doctorate in international multicultural education and was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal in 1999. She's written a new memoir called "I Will Not Fear" and a book about her childhood for younger readers - it's called "March Forward, Girl."

Well, Dr. Melba Pattillo Beals, welcome to FRESH AIR. It's good to have you. You say, in your new book, that you became aware of discrimination at the age of 3 growing up in Little Rock. Boy, that's...

MELBA PATTILLO BEALS: Absolutely.

DAVIES: That's young. How did you become aware?

BEALS: Essentially by watching my parents and by seeing them freeze up when we go places, by seeing the difference in their behavior in my presence in the home, in church and around each other, versus their behavior when we went to the grocery store, which was around the corner. That would be my first little glimpse of a world beyond my home - the grocery store.

It would also be when the insurance man visited my house, and I would see how my father went into the back room and armed himself. And this is what he'd choose - to take this brush and this cloth. And he cleaned off his shotgun because he was steamed at the way that the insurance man and the milkman and all these white delivery men treated my mother. My mother was very beautiful. She looked perhaps Hawaiian or - she's partially American-Indian, so she had sort of wavy hair to her waist and really beautiful skin and all of this. She did not look as though she were particularly black.

And they would come to the house. And as they were trying to collect or deliver whatever, they would, like, flirt with her. And I could watch my father's response, which was that he was helpless, powerless. But oh, was he (unintelligible) steamingly angry. I watched my mother's response, which was to walk a very thin line - to push them away, to get rid of them but, at the same time, not to really annoy them. Do you know what I mean?

DAVIES: You write that you grew up with a lot of fear. What were you afraid of?

BEALS: Every single time day turned to night, I was frightened that the Klan would ride. From a very early age, again, I watched the parents around me pull the shades, quiet us all down to make our house look as though we were being very good Negroes, pull us in, pull anything from the outside that looked as though we were engaged in any activities they would object to. I watched this routine go on for all of my early life.

And I watched how it was when we went into stores - how my grandmother grabbed my hand and squeezed it so tight it hurt, how we were not allowed to touch things. When I was 5 and 4 and 3, if I went down town shopping, I couldn't touch anything - not the clothing, not the groceries, not anything. And in some of the grocery stores - we only had a couple that we could go to, first of all. And secondly, when you got there, Grandma couldn't, like, reach for things. She would tell a clerk what he wanted, and he would touch it because they didn't want black people touching all the merchandise, say, along a certain line, OK?

So he would give her what she needed, and then they would form a line to pay for it. And the line in which you stood to pay for it - at any moment, a white person can walk up and get in front of you in line...

DAVIES: Yeah.

BEALS: ...And you can't say a thing.

DAVIES: And they wouldn't want you to touch things because an item that you had touched would not be acceptable to a white customer.

BEALS: Would not be salable, would not be - yeah, right.

DAVIES: Right. Let's move to 1957, when the Supreme Court had ruled that the separate but equal doctrine for public education did not hold, that - and integration was called for. And there was this move to integrate Central High School in Little Rock. First of all, just describe what the differences were between that high school, which was all white, and the high school that you attended?

BEALS: The high school I attended was called Horace Mann. It had been built recently. The white populace decided, in order to appease black people so that we wouldn't even want integration, they would build a new high school called Horace Mann. Now, unfortunately for us, Horace Mann was built like a school - it was actually copied, I understand, off of a school in Florida, meaning for me to go from my classroom to the bathroom or from my classroom to the next classroom, I had to go outdoors in this hallway which was exposed to the weather. Do you know what I mean?

And so - but it got freezing cold in Arkansas. And so why would you build a school like this for Little Rock school kids? But anyway, and my school was one story, limited in its size, with a fairly OK library but very, very minimal kinds of equipment. What would happen would be every September, we would get a couple of truckloads of stuff that was used by the kids in the white high school. So that could be, you know, a three-legged table, slimy typewriter, used books. And the teacher would dig into these things with great gratitude, and we would move ahead. I wanted to wonder what the other high school was like.

Well, it was seven stories in height - Central High School was. It was four blocks - let's see, eight blocks in diameter, in terms of its measurements. It was, I think, ranked eighth in the nation in terms of its physical building. One of its top floors was completely contributed to music and bands. It had a floor which was nothing but apartments to teach you home economics. It's everything a girl could have. And to boot, many of its students went on to the top eight universities in the country, showing you, thus, the caliber of instructors it had. So it was highly ranked, Central High School.

DAVIES: So nine students - nine African-American students were selected for the - to try and integrate Central High School. How did you get to be one of them?

BEALS: Really, there were 116 students, and then it sort of whittled down to nine by people being frightened and people being threatened because by this time, the White Citizens' Council had nominated a committee of white people to go door to door, contact you through your doctor, contact you through whomever to get to you to tell you, oh, now, you know, you don't want to integrate. But eventually, to qualify - in the beginning, to qualify, you had to have good grades, and you had to have a record of not fighting, not talking back, a record of being a good student behavior-wise and academically.

DAVIES: And you had to volunteer. You stepped up to do this.

BEALS: Oh, amen.

DAVIES: So this was a rocky start to the integration of Central High School. You want to just tell us about the first day when you and your mom went, thinking you were going to get into the high school?

BEALS: When we walked up behind this big crowd, we realized ah, ha, ha, ha, we have really done something that we shouldn't have done. We anticipated that the people were all on tippy-toe, looking across the street - for what? - we didn't know. Let's us go look. So we walked up behind this crowd that was probably six people deep. There were thousands of people there. And we tried to go through because we were going to go across the street and go to the school.

And right away, these guys started - hey, you know, we got us a nigger right here to hang, right here. No need looking across the street to get that one. We got one here. And it went downhill from there. They started chasing us. We started running. We had parked the car at the end of that block, and we had to make our way to this car. And I thought for sure we wouldn't make it.

They got close to my mother - close enough to my mother that they grabbed her jacket off of her. At one point, they made her drop her valise, and she picked it back up because she was dressed to go to school. She was a schoolteacher. And we get to the car just by - you know, my grandmother said, look, if you're ever in a really tight place, understand that at every moment of your life, God is as close to you as your skin. You have but to pray, and he will show you that he's there, and he will help you. So I'd never tested that. And so I'm 15, and I think to myself, aha, it appears to me that this is the time - you know what I'm saying? - because these guys have ropes, and they're directly behind me, and they're chasing, they're calling me all sorts of names. And they're saying what they're going to do with us before they hang us, right?

And so I - you know, I started to pray. And I prayed out loud, as loud as I possibly could, hoping that this would facilitate God's hearing me. And I thought, how is he going to, you know, fix this? Because we couldn't call the police - we knew that. What would the police do? They would help the other people. And so I thought, well, how will we get past this? And it was that - this was an unpaved sidewalk, and there were all sorts of bushes and branches and things across the walkway.

And whereas we saw these two things, I suppose the gentlemen behind us, who were so angry, with their ropes in the air and their - you know, they didn't. And so they fell. And just for an instant, that gave us one instant to get to the car.

We got to the corner, and my mother had earlier said, go, drive; here are the keys because she'd been teaching me to drive. And I got into the car, and we backed down that hill. I mean, just as she was getting in, this guy caught hold of the car door. They were banging on the front glass of the car. And we - I backed down that hill faster than I had ever driven forward.

DAVIES: And you...

BEALS: ...And turned around...

BEALS: ...And got away and got home, you know. And my grandmother said, you know, have you said thank you to God yet or, you know, what are you doing?

DAVIES: Wow. So your first attempt, you don't even get in the building. You barely escape with your life from this mob that was there.

BEALS: Right. And then the second attempt, we do get in.

DAVIES: Right, this - the second - it was a couple weeks later, right? And the Little Rock police escort (unintelligible).

BEALS: Well, yes, because we had - you had to give the courts time to say, look, here - to Governor Faubus - you know, we're going to do this, and no matter what you think, we're going to do it. Because he kept erecting troops in front of the school, and he was going through all sorts of machinations to stop it. And so this court order...

DAVIES: Maybe we should just mention here that governor, Orval Faubus, had the National Guard troops in front of the high school that day. And you might think they were there to protect the students. In fact, they were there to keep them out, right?

BEALS: Well, but we had to learn that because Elizabeth Eckford approached these guardsmen, thinking, you know, OK, well, they - they're going to escort us, say, this, you know, 150, 200 steps up to the stairs. No, no, no, no, no. They closed rank to keep her out. And she was the one who got spat upon until you could ring her clothing out, as she walked this, you know, block length from where they were in the middle to the corner and where - was eventually rescued by the Lorches, who were a couple.

DAVIES: So the second time you go back, some time has passed. There has been a court hearing, and the Little Rock police escort you into the building, but there's still a big mob outside, right?

BEALS: Huge mob. As we're being let out of this car on the side - I think it's 14th Street side - I hear all this noise again. I haven't been to many really big events in my life. But what I remember is, like, going to the rodeo or going to a parade or - you know, the rodeo, black folks would be segregated, but they'd be - we'd be present and be as thousands and thousands - we will - what I have very little to compare this noise to - would be like going to a huge football game.

And I'm hearing this crowd and their sawhorses. I see sawhorses holding them back, and I think, oh, boy. And, you know, if you've never been in a situation like this, you don't - how you're going to feel is odd. So I got out of the side of the car, and the police were escorting us up the side steps and everything like that.

And the thing is that once you step inside of Central High School, it's so huge. And it was so dark in there, you know. And we were greeted by this sort of middle-aged, dark-haired woman, who was quite, I would say, unwelcoming and said she was going to take us to where we needed to go, which, at that point, was to the office. And so we were marched down this hall of screaming, yelling, spitting young people - young white people, who didn't want us there - to the principal's office. And there we gathered, and they were going to assign us classrooms.

Now, understand, if you've got seven floors of classrooms, but you've only got nine people, and you've got all those hundreds of students, I think you would've put them in close proximity to each other so you could guard them. But no, no, no, no, no. They said, hey, you want integration, you going to get integration. And they sent us nine different ways. And that was really - as we said goodbye to each other, that was really horrible. And among us was Thelma Jean Mothershed, who had a very bad heart. At this point, she turns kind of a purpley (ph) blue, and she's sitting down on her haunches, and we're waiting for her to turn the right color again. So that was a little unsettling.

DAVIES: Our guest is Melba Pattillo Beals. She was one of nine African-American kids who, in 1957, participated in the hard-fought integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. She has a new memoir called "I Will Not Fear: My Story Of A Lifetime Of Building Faith Under Fire" and another memoir aimed at younger readers called "March Forward, Girl." We'll continue our conversation in just a moment. This is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHARLIE HADEN AND HANK JONES' "NOBODY KNOWS THE TROUBLE I'VE SEEN")

DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR, and we're speaking with Dr. Melba Pattillo Beals. She was one of nine kids who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., in 1957 - one of the early battles of the civil rights movement. She has a new memoir called "I Will Not Fear" and another memoir aimed at younger readers about her life. It's called "March Forward, Girl."

I want to talk about your experiences in classrooms in a moment. But you didn't make it all the way through this day, right? Tell us how this day was cut short.

BEALS: About - let see. I think it was in shorthand - Mrs. Pickwick.

DAVIES: Shorthand class.

BEALS: I remember her because she was a teacher who I felt safe in her room. She didn't say anything to me like, it's OK, but she conducted herself in a way which made me respect her sense of my humanness. And so - like, I suppose shortly after 11 - between 11, 11:30, something like that - this woman who had escorted us in came back to get us again and said, follow me, get up, follow me now, collect your books.

Now, all the while, I'd been in almost any classroom. Now, I was, one, exposed to the outside. I could hear this crowd, this mob that had gathered outside. And there was no doubt, there had to be hundreds of people out there. And so this woman collects us and takes us all to the office. And we get to the office, and they say that, look, we're going to have to somehow get you out of here. We have a problem. Mobs are beginning to burst into the school, and you're not safe, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know. And at the same time, they stick us into this side room while they confer with added policeman - some, I think, from North Little Rock. And, you know, you had lawmakers - I mean, law officers in there from all sorts of places, right?

And so they start to consult with each other. And I, Ms. Nosypot (ph) - that's why I grew up to be a news reporter - I put my ear in there because I want to know. Don't be consulting without me. And one guy says, well, look, you know, maybe what we're going to have to do is to put one out there, and we're going to have to let them hang that kid while we get the other eight out. At least we'll save eight. So by this, I know right away that, you know, we got a big problem here.

And then another white gentleman - tall - I believe to be assistant chief of police of North Little Rock, stood up and said, no, look, I'm a parent, I'm not doing this. I'm getting them all out. We're going. We're going to do it. And so he's the one who led us down the stairs of this huge castle-like building - Central High School - round, and round, and round and down into a basement. And I thought to myself, well, if you're ever going to be killed, this is where you're going to get it. And who were these white men with us, and what did they really want? Truth was, they were policemen - Little Rock and North Little Rock - truth was that they saved our lives.

DAVIES: So your first two attempts - you and these fellow students to get into Little Rock - into Central High School at Little Rock - actually didn't - you didn't even complete full days. You barely escaped with your lives from the mob. And President Eisenhower sent federal troops, the 101st Airborne, to make sure that you were escorted into the classes and kept safe. They got you in, but they couldn't follow you into classrooms. And I want you to tell us what it was like when you actually got into a classroom, and the soldiers were outside. How were you treated by the students? How did the teachers respond?

BEALS: Some of the teachers were, shall we say, OK. Or they were cordial. They were civil. Others were not. They let you know right away what they thought. And here I had to begin thinking about, how can I save my life during this class? Do I need to sit in the back or the front? Shall I sit where I can look at the soldier? Although, I could look at my soldier sometimes. He couldn't come through. He might signal me to move over here, do this, do that. But the fact of the matter was that I was, you know, completely open to whatever happened. And many of the classrooms that teach - not many - but some of the classes - the teachers were strong and they said, sit down. Don't touch her. Don't hit her. Others - they didn't care what happened, you know?

DAVIES: What kinds of things would students do in class?

BEALS: Light paper and take a match, light a piece of paper and then throw it on you. Particularly in study hall, they loved that trick. Hit you, throw things at you. A favorite thing was to do something to your back, smear peanut butter. And one of the most heinous crimes was to smear peanut butter and glumpy (ph) stuff under your seat, so that you didn't notice, really. When I was walking in class, I was sort of looking around my back when I would sit down in it.

And what they'd do is put glass in it. And the whole thing I'm discovering that you've done that. The whole thing of, you know, if you don't pull your dress down, then it's going to get into your thighs or wherever it gets - because it penetrates your clothes. It can penetrate your clothing. However you sit, unless you're wearing some heavy-duty jeans, you're going to be in trouble with that one - because they did that one several times.

DAVIES: Melba Pattillo Beals has a new memoir, "I Will Not Fear," and a book about her childhood aimed at younger readers called "March Forward, Girl." After a break, we'll hear more about her days at Central High School and how leaving Little Rock changed her life. I'm Dave Davies, and this is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF ORRIN EVANS' "A FREE MAN")

DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Dave Davies, in for Terry Gross, who's off this week. We're speaking with Melba Pattillo Beals, one of nine black students who were chosen to try and integrate Central High School in Little Rock in 1957. Beals has a new memoir called "I Will Not Fear" and a book for younger readers called "March Forward, Girl." When we left off, she was describing the harassment and physical assaults she faced from white students at Central High.

There were insults and racial epithets and verbal assaults constantly, I guess, and it -

BEALS: Constantly name calling, which, after a while, I have to say to you, becomes in some ways as painful or more than the physicality of the incident because you begin to question in your mind as a child, who am I? Who am I really?

DAVIES: But as you move through the halls and through gym class and around pep rallies, I mean, these weren't just verbal assaults. You were physically assaulted. In what ways were you harmed?

BEALS: Tripped - tripped up so you fall. The most dangerous way was, a gentleman passes you with a plastic toy gun, and you think, OK, I'm going to get wet. But you're not. You're going to get acid in your eyes. And that's what happened to me. And my bodyguard, who I don't name - I think I call him Johnny Black. Anyway, he caught my ponytail - I have really long hair - and he grabbed my ponytail and ran, forcing me to run, and jammed my face beneath the water fountain and ran water all over my eyes. And that's what saved my sight.

DAVIES: You mention you were assigned, actually, a member of the 101st Airborne, who was with you all the time in the hallway, as you write.

BEALS: Several members.

DAVIES: Right. Right. But they weren't able - like, in a case like that or when someone assaulted you - to intervene, to grab the offender or...

BEALS: Right. They couldn't do any of that. But, like, I had what are called primary, secondary and tertiary guards. Your primary guard was one nearest to you. Your secondary were two people who were out so many feet. And your tertiary were - they could be as many as six people, depending on what your day had been like. But they could never touch those other children. In some ways, they were just kind of like, you know, bullies that were, like, you know threatening them. They didn't - they were admonished that they couldn't touch other kids.

So, for example, when I went to the bathroom, one of the things I learned to do then, which I'm having to get out of doing now, which the doctor just lectured me about last Friday, was drink water - drink enough water - because my whole thing in Central High School was, if you don't drink water, you don't have to go to the bathroom. And so I really worked at that hard.

DAVIES: You didn't want to go to the bathroom because you weren't safe there.

BEALS: No, no because in the bathroom, like, I would be in my little concern, you know. And these ladies would come by, and then once again, we have the old let's light the papers - and at this point, they would get on either side of me and in front, and they would light notebook paper with matches, and then they would throw it in on you.

DAVIES: These would be showering down on you in the stall you're while somebody else...

BEALS: That's right.

DAVIES: Somebody else held the door so you couldn't get out.

BEALS: Exactly. And so I thought one day, well, OK, am I going to die here? What am I going to do? And a little voice said, throw them back, you idiot. Just throw them back. And that's what I did. I said, all righty, then, let's go girls. And I threw them back, and I said, hey, you know what? Get out of here. So, I mean, I really had to make a transition in my head. Do you want to live? And what are you willing to do to live? And you're going to have to defend your life every day. Those days of childhood, of sweetness, of being protected by the will of God - well, OK, that - there's been a transition here, my darling.

DAVIES: You know, I don't want to belabor this, but I just want people to understand how - what this was like. And I made a quick list of some of the ways that you were assaulted. I'm just going to read them here - knocked downstairs, spit upon, kicked on the shins, raw eggs poured over your head, acid thrown in your eyes, locker trashed, you were pushed against a wall and choked, hit across the back with a tennis racket so hard you spit up blood, pelted with snowballs that had large rocks in the middle. And this is just a partial list of the things that you and the other eight kids suffered. Did you report these things to anybody, to the school administrators? Did anybody do anything?

BEALS: In the beginning. In the beginning, we did report these kinds of attacks, but we learned quickly that nothing was ever going to be done about them. And I remember once watching this guy kick Terry, and we told the principal, and he said, you know, unless I see it myself personally or some teacher sees it, it's not valid. And so they weren't going to do anything to us because, you know, you had the white citizens' club. You had all these white parents who were on their case. And they wanted to get us out, and they figured if they were violent enough over a long enough period of time, that, you know, it would be OK.

DAVIES: You know, this was decades ago, of course, and I have to believe that many of those students who perpetrated this stuff feel pretty bad about it. Did you ever hear from any of them or the adults who should've put a stop to it?

BEALS: You know, Oprah had a bunch of us on, and one guy said - who - I wanted to go out with him afterwards - and there was a guy called John Sandhay (ph). I can't remember (unintelligible). He walked on my heels and did horrifying things. And there were several people there. Some of them apologized. Some of them said that they would never teach their children to be that way. And, you know, others said that we had ruined their high school for them, and we had ruined their senior year. And I imagine for many of those kids, we did ruin their senior year.

So there were sort of mixed feelings. But yes, later on, some did - some went on the Internet and said, oh, you know, Melba Beals could never have written her book because she such an - you know, she's so stupid, like most black people are stupid. And some have done very detrimental things. But the best thing for me to do is to ignore that. And I've always known, thanks to grandma and mother and God, who I really am. So that's all I need.

DAVIES: Melba Pattillo Beals was one of nine African-American students who participated in the hard-fought integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., in 1957. She has two new memoirs. One is called "I Will Not Fear: My Story Of A Lifetime, Building Faith Under Fire" (ph). Another, aimed at younger readers, is called "March Forward, Girl." We'll continue our conversation in just a moment. This is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR, and we're speaking with Dr. Melba Pattillo Beals. She was one of nine African-American students who participated in the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. - one of the early battles of the civil rights movement. She has two new memoirs. One is, "I Will Not Fear: My Story Of A Lifetime Building Faith Under Fire" (ph). Another, which is oriented at younger readers, is called "March Forward, Girl."

I want to come back to Central High School for a bit. This became a day-to-day struggle. You say - you write at one point, you got up, and you went to war. Other the kids go to school. You went to school, but you went to war. How did it affect your life at home?

BEALS: Well, you know, I didn't feel - I felt unwarm, and my tummy hurt a lot. And my grandmother and mother tried their best. My father, by then, had - was gone, and my parents got divorced. And that was a hard thing to go through at the same time. But my grandmother and mother tried the best to bake ginger men, and take us downtown and to do the things that could make me feel like everything's going to be OK, normal. But most of the time at home, I worried.

Like, I would just have, like, Friday night free, and then Saturday, I'd start to worry again that Sunday's going to come, I'm going to have church, and then I have to go back to that place again. And so my life at home was not as sweet as it had been. Always, my mother and grandmother did the best to provide a loving home that they - as loving as they could possibly provide, you know?

DAVIES: But it followed you home, too, right? I mean, the phone would ring with insults and threats and...

BEALS: Consistently. Calling...

DAVIES: ...And there were two guys parked outside your house all the time.

BEALS: Two guys parked outside my house who threatened to do bad things. My grandmother was a shooter because she grew up partially in a reservation, and her relatives, her uncles and her father were Indians - American Indians. She knew she could shoot a gnat at a hundred yards. Do you know what I'm saying? And so she kept a shotgun, Mr. Higgenbottom, on her windowsill because people would come. And at one point, they did shoot into the house, as you'll remember early in the Little Rock incident. And they took away her green vase - her flower vase that was on the TV, shattered it.

And so it was fear. What occupied me was fear. I wasn't allowed to be an open teenager, to go where I wanted to go. I could no longer go to community center to hang. There was no hanging now because get it and do understand it - as one of the Little Rock Nine, some of my own people were not quite happy with me because they were losing their jobs. They were losing their salvation contributions at Christmastime. They lost...

DAVIES: Why were they losing their jobs? Why were they losing jobs and money?

BEALS: Because they worked for the same white people that my grandmother worked for. My grandmother was a maid - a dollar a day in white lady's kitchens. And she was careful never, ever to connect herself to me, one of the Little Rock Nine. She just would say, oh, my goodness. That's news. I wonder whose child that is - because she had a different last name than we did. She never told any of her white employers that that's who she was. And the black people were losing jobs consistently. I mean, Gloria Ray Karlmark's husband - sorry - father lost his job.

DAVIES: Your mom was fired - right? - from her teaching job...

BEALS: My mom lost her job. (Laughter) Her story's great because we had a black bishop in North Little Rock who'd been very powerful among the blacks and said to be powerful among whites. And my mother went to him and told him that her job had been taken away. And he told her, prepare to go back to work, just to simply mention his name. And she did. And he was correct.

DAVIES: Did any white students try and help or just extend a hand of friendship?

BEALS: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. First of all, I want to say something clearly so that everybody doesn't get the wrong impression. There were sane, God-fearing white people in Little Rock, Ark., who honestly gave us help, some of them by giving jobs to the black people who'd been fired, by giving money to the black people who'd been fired, by giving them jobs, like, in their yards - mow here, mow there, mow everywhere. Go work for Uncle and Daddy in Chicago. Carlotta LaNier's father, for example, left Little Rock and went to work in Chicago. He went away to work. And he'd send money back and come back, sometimes, on the weekends. And so some of the white people were very generous in their attempts - in their efforts to help us. And that should really be clear.

DAVIES: You made it through that year. But in the end, you didn't go back to Central next year. What happened?

BEALS: The governor, Governor Faubus, closed all schools to keep us from returning in the school year of 1958. And that was difficult because he closed black schools. And those black children called us - they called me - and at church, treated us terribly because we'd taken away from them now their Christmas donations, their jobs, their homes and now their schools. And they were unhappy. Black kids were almost as unhappy as the white kids. Not as many of them were, but certainly, some of them were. They called us and said, you know, you guys let go.

DAVIES: So the governor closed the public schools in Little Rock as a gambit to somehow avoid integration. And you sat out most of that year because the ACLU wanted you to not enroll in another school because that would jeopardize the standing for the legal fight.

BEALS: Well, I sat out that year of 1958 because the NAACP, National Association...

BEALS: ...For the Advancement of Colored People, wanted us to sit out because they had a court case in process. But beginning in 1959, some of the kids would go back. By that time, some of us had been taken away. I was one of them who went to California.

DAVIES: Yeah. How did that have - a number of the Little Rock Nine felt they had to leave Little Rock. Why did you and others feel like you had to leave?

BEALS: Well, because in my case, they were specifically showing pictures and offering 10,000 dead, 5,000 alive.

DAVIES: Like a wanted poster - a wanted poster.

BEALS: Wanted posters spread all over the city because I was taller, bigger. Minnijean Brown and I were both taller, 5-feet-8, more speculative, more, you know, out front than some of the other kids were. And so I had, at this time, relatives in Georgia - I've always had relatives who pass for white. They come to town. They visit undercover on a holiday. And this I thought every family had, you know? And now I had relatives with red hair, blue eyes, freckles.

And so one of these relatives is actually - was actually in the Klan in another city and called my grandmother and my mother and said, look right here. You get her out of there now because we have a group coming up just to look for her. And you just need to know. You need to get her - they're serious about this. And so at this point, my grandmother and mother listened to the NAACP. The NAACP had always said some of us may have to leave. They sent out inquiries to different NAACPs across the country, saying, look. We need a home for these kids. We need some protection. Who's going to give it? In this case, out of Northern California came Dr. and Mrs. George McCabe, who would, until this moment of this day, be my parents and my family.

DAVIES: Now, this was a family that you moved to. They lived in a small town in California, right?

BEALS: They lived in a small town in California.

DAVIES: And you thought you were heading out to live with a black family.

BEALS: Oh, I was so thrilled when I got on that plane. I thought they're going to be a rich, black family. They're going to have Ebony magazines every month, unlike me, who can't afford them. They're going to have, you know, phones. And, oh, it's going to be wonderful. Well, I got off the plane, and this great group of white people chased me. They came running towards me, and I thought, oh, Lord, they're going to get me. And they came up, and they gave me a cross and a Bible. And they said they're with the Santa Rosa NAACP. I tell you I could not stop laughing inside. But outside, I was frightened to death because I thought, there are no white people in the NAACP. But they turned out to be.

And sure enough, they put me in this car, and they rode me across the Golden Gate Bridge. And I thought, you know, what's going to happen - I am always as a writer, I think, since childhood, imagining stories in my head. Are they going to take me across the bridge and hang me? But in fact, they took me to a farm. First, they took me to the city. And the neighbors didn't want me to stay in that house. So then I was taken to a second house, 6064 Melita Road. I shall never forget that address. And it was like a mini farm.

And that were - there was Dr. Mrs. George. Kay McCabe was petite with bangs. And she was mom, my mom, whom I think of every single day in my life. And my dad was George McCabe. Dr. George McCabe helped to found Sonoma State University. And my face - he and his friends were drawing pictures of it on butcher paper when I was with them. And he showed me what was possible. They were very poor. They didn't have a lot of money. But they were free. And it was that father, connected to my grandmother's lectures, that gave me a sense of equality.

DAVIES: You know, we don't have time to cover the story that the book tells. But, I mean, you got an education. And you were a mom and then adopted two sons and were a journalist and eventually a communications specialist. And you describe, you know, the discrimination you experienced in employment and housing. And I just have to ask you - given that you were - you know, you were played a path-breaking role in civil rights in this country. How much progress have we made as a nation towards overcoming this terrible legacy of racism?

BEALS: I thought by this time, when I'm 76, which, if you look back, is how many years? Fifty-six. I thought that it would be over. I thought that equality would be here. But I was wrong. I was really wrong. But how is life different now? I have a voice. And so we have indeed, my dear, come a very, very long way. You may hit me now on the way out of the studio, but I have a voice. I can report that.

And of the policemen who come to take that report, one of them's going to be OK. He's going to say, no, this shouldn't have happened. And he's going to do something about it. And so I'll take that for now. People beyond where I am will have to keep struggling, as those who came before me struggled. That's cool. I see progress. It certainly is not happening at the speed I want it to happen.

But there is incredible progress that I sit here before this camera, this microphone, that I was a news reporter, that you're interested in interviewing me regarding books which are on that topic, that people with white faces welcomed me here. And so yeah, we've made some progress from where I was. Baby, don't you ever forget that I rode in the back of the bus near the fussy, gassy engine. I drank from a water fountain marked color. Uh-uh. Don't forget it. And I never, ever forget it. So I've come a long, long way.

DAVIES: Melba Pattillo Beals, thank you so much for speaking with us.

BEALS: You're quite welcome. Thank you for having me.

DAVIES: Melba Pattillo Beals is one of nine black students who were chosen to integrate Central High School in Little Rock in 1957. Beals has a new memoir called "I Will Not Fear" and a book about her childhood for younger readers called "March Forward, Girl." Coming up, David Edelstein reviews the new German film "In The Fade." This is FRESH AIR.

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Beyoncé’s ‘Blackbird’ cover ‘awakens so much,’ Little Rock Nine member says

When Melba Pattillo Beals heard Beyoncé sing a line from the Beatles’ “Blackbird” on her new album last week, she was transported back to a morning in September 1957, when she and eight other Black students arrived at an all-White Arkansas school.

You were only waiting for this moment to arise.

Beals, a member of the group known as the Little Rock Nine who integrated Central High School, had loved the 1968 Beatles hit from the first time she heard it — long before she learned in 2016 that her story had inspired it.

The 82-year-old San Francisco resident said hearing Beyoncé’s rendition brought new meaning to the lyrics. As Beals streamed the song released Friday on Beyoncé’s new album, “Cowboy Carter,” she felt empowered knowing that nearly 67 years ago, she helped desegregate schools.

“This song awakens so much,” Beals said.

Beyoncé’s cover is one of several songs on her album that feature Black country music artists who perform in a genre that has long been dominated by White musicians and fans.

Beals said Beyoncé’s “blackbiird” is a meaningful inclusion so many years after Paul McCartney wrote the lyrics based on the Little Rock Nine, who had to be escorted by military personnel as protesters surrounded their new school.

“Paul McCartney said by writing that song, ‘I hear you. I may not be able to rescue you, but I hear you singing in your dark,’” she said.

MacKenzie Green, whose father, Ernest Green, is another member of the Little Rock Nine, called Beyoncé’s cover “one of the coolest things that has ever happened.”

A die-hard Beyoncé fan, MacKenzie was already anticipating the singer’s new album when she saw “blackbiird” on the track list last week. She described her excitement in a TikTok that has received more than 540,000 views.

She woke up at 5:30 a.m. on Friday and listened to “blackbiird,” crying so much that she said she barely heard the lyrics. MacKenzie said she believes Beyoncé’s song will help preserve the Little Rock Nine’s memory.

“Finally, this moment has arrived where they are being embraced and given their flowers,” she said.

The Little Rock Nine made history in 1957, three years after the Supreme Court deemed racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional . The NAACP recruited nine Black students to integrate Central High, but on what was supposed to be their first day, the Arkansas National Guard blocked them from entering the building.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower responded by ordering members of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division to escort the students to and from class later that month. About 350 paratroopers and 80 police officers surrounded the building and contained a screaming mob.

But the nine students continued to be harassed. Beals said students sent flaming paper towels into her bathroom stall. She said a girl once sprayed acid into her eyes with a water gun, and another time, someone tried to throw a knife at her head.

Ernest Green, the lone senior of the Little Rock Nine, graduated in May 1958 with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in attendance, he told NBCUniversal in 2022. The Little Rock Nine attended Central High for one year before Gov. Orval Faubus (D) closed all of Little Rock’s high schools for a year to try to prevent desegregation .

The nine students went their separate ways. Beals moved to Santa Rosa, Calif., to finish high school before starting a career as a journalist. Ernest studied sociology at Michigan State University.

When the Beatles released “Blackbird” in 1968, Beals, who still cried in the middle of the night from her experiences in Little Rock, related to the song’s messages about enduring oppression. The lyrics reminded her of her grandmother, who encouraged her even as classmates threatened her in Little Rock.

Beals thought the song was about Black people’s struggles, but McCartney revealed in 2016 that the Little Rock Nine themselves inspired it.

“This is, to me, where civil rights started,” McCartney said at a concert that year in Little Rock. “We would see what was going on and sympathize with the people going through those struggles, and it made me want to write a song that if it ever got back to the people going through those struggles, it might just help them a little.”

The song has reached a new audience since Beyoncé released her rendition.

Beals, who wrote multiple books about her experiences in Little Rock, said the song’s messages are still relevant as some states have removed Black history courses in schools.

“I can fly wherever I want to fly now,” Beals said. “But what I want is that generation of young people behind me to know the same thing.”

Carlotta Walls LaNier (1942–)

Carlotta Walls LaNier made history as the youngest member of the Little Rock Nine , the nine African-American students who desegregated Central High School in Little Rock (Pulaski County) in 1957.

The oldest of three daughters, Carlotta Walls was born on December 18, 1942, in Little Rock to Juanita and Cartelyou Walls. Her father was a brick mason and a World War II veteran, and her mother was a secretary in the Office of Public Housing.

Inspired by Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white passenger sparked the 1955 Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott, as well as the desire to get the best education available, Walls enrolled in Central High School as a sophomore. Some white students called her names and spat on her, and armed guards had to escort her to classes, but she concentrated on her studies and protected herself throughout the school year. Walls and every other Little Rock student were barred from attending Central the next year, when all four Little Rock high schools were closed, but she returned to Central High and graduated in 1960, despite her family’s house being bombed in February of that year.

Walls attended Michigan State University for two years in the early 1960s before moving with her family to Denver. (Her father could not get work locally after the 1957 crisis.) In 1968, she earned a BS from Colorado State College (now the University of Northern Colorado) and began working at the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) as a program administrator for teenagers.

Also in 1968, Walls married Ira C. “Ike” LaNier, with whom she had a son and a daughter. In 1977, she founded LaNier and Company, a real estate brokerage firm in Denver. She currently resides in Englewood, Colorado.

LaNier was awarded the prestigious Spingarn Medal by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) , along with the other Little Rock Nine and Daisy Bates , in 1958. She has also served as president of the Little Rock Nine Foundation, a scholarship organization dedicated to ensuring equal access to education for African Americans , and is a trustee for the Iliff School of Theology and the University of Northern Colorado. In 1999, President Bill Clinton presented the nation’s highest civilian award, the Congressional Gold Medal, to the members of the Little Rock Nine. In 2009, she published her memoir, A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School . In October 2015, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.

For additional information: Bates, Daisy. The Long Shadow of Little Rock. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1986.

Beals, Melba Pattillo. Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Desegregate Little Rock’s Central High School. New York: Washington Square Books, 1994.

Jacoway, Elizabeth, and C. Fred Williams, eds. Understanding the Little Rock Crisis: An Exercise in Remembrance and Reconciliation . Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1999.

LaNier, Carlotta Walls. “New Dress, New School: My Sophomore Year at Central High School.” FRANK ( Fall/Winter 2007): 46–47.

LaNier, Carlotta Walls, and Lisa Frazier Page. A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School . New York: One World/Ballantine, 2009.

Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site Visitor Center. Little Rock, Arkansas. http://www.nps.gov/chsc/ (accessed July 11, 2023).

Ross, Jim, and Barclay Key. “In the Wake of the Central High Crisis, Crime and Injustice.” Arkansas Times , November 2020, pp. 47–53. Online at https://arktimes.com/history/2020/10/27/in-the-wake-of-the-central-high-crisis-crime-and-injustice (accessed July 11, 2023).

Roy, Beth. Bitters in the Honey: Tales of Hope and Disappointment across Divides of Race and Time . Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1999.

Williams, Helaine R. “Carlotta Walls LaNier.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette , September 24, 2017, pp. 1D, 8D.

National Park Service Central High School National Historic Site

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The Meaning Behind Beyonce’s ‘Blackbird’ Cover on Cowboy Carter

B eyoncé's eighth studio album Cowboy Carter , the second act of her three-part project, released at midnight on Friday. One of the most striking songs of its 27 tracks is a soulful cover of the Beatles' "Blackbird," which features a quartet of Black country singers: Tanner Adell, Tiera Kennedy, Brittney Spencer and Reyna Roberts.

The inclusion of "Blackbird" (styled as "Blackbiird" on Cowboy Carter , in keeping with the act ii theme) may come as a surprise to some; for one, in recent years, Beyoncé has rarely done covers of other artists' songs. For another, though Beyoncé has been clear that her new album "ain't a country album, this is a Beyoncé album," many of the songs on the album are firmly in the country space, making her inclusion of the decidedly folk rock classic "Blackbird" especially significant.

Read more: Everything We Know About Beyoncé’s New Album Cowboy Carter

"Blackbird," which was written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon and included on their 1968 self-titled album, is a song about hope and survival, with lyrics that encourage the titular bird to "take these broken wings and learn to fly." However, throughout the years, McCartney has been vocal about the song being inspired by the American civil rights movement and specifically the Little Rock Nine , the trailblazing nine Black students in 1957 who faced immense discrimination after they enrolled in a formerly all-white high school following the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education ruling.

In a 2019 interview with GQ , McCartney detailed how this struggle for racial justice inspired him and Lennon across the pond.

"I was sitting around with my acoustic guitar and I'd heard about the civil rights troubles that were happening in the '60s in Alabama, Mississippi, and Little Rock in particular. So that was in my mind and I just thought, 'It'd be really good if I could write something that if it ever reached any of the people going through those problems, it might kind of give them a little bit of hope,' so I wrote 'Blackbird.'

Read more: ‘I Had a Right to Be at Central’: Remembering Little Rock’s Integration Battle

He also shared that he wrote the song specifically with Black women in the civil rights movement in mind, which makes Beyoncé's decision to cover it with all Black female country artists especially significant.

"In England, a bird is a girl, so I was thinking of a Black girl going through this—you know, now's your time to arise, set yourself free, and take these broken wings. One of the nice things about music is that you know a lot of people listening to you are going to take seriously what you're saying in the song. So I'm very proud of the fact that the Beatles output is always really pretty positive," he said.

In 2016, nearly 60 years after "Blackbird" made its debut, McCartney met two members of the Little Rock Nine, Thelma Mothershed Wair and Elizabeth Eckford, after performing a concert in North Little Rock, AR.

"It's a really important place for us because this is, to me, where civil rights started," McCartney said during the concert . "We would see what was going on and sympathize with the people going through those struggles, and it made me want to write a song that if it ever got back to the people going through those struggles, it might just help them a little."

Incredible to meet two of the Little Rock Nine--pioneers of the civil rights movement and inspiration for Blackbird. pic.twitter.com/QrnOQnqrFX — Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) May 1, 2016

The song has been covered extensively over the years, by everyone from the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl to Sarah McLachlan. Now, Beyoncé's version featuring Adell, Kennedy, Spencer, and Roberts serves as a reminder of the Black women at the forefront of the racial justice movement. It also draws a parallel between the ways in which Black artists and particularly Black women artists still have to fight for space in the industry, especially in the country genre, which has historically been less than welcoming to non-white and women artists .

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Write to Cady Lang at [email protected]

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Maps of the April 2024 Total Solar Eclipse

By Jonathan Corum

On April 8, the moon will slip between the Earth and the sun, casting a shadow across a swath of North America: a total solar eclipse.

By cosmic coincidence, the moon and the sun appear roughly the same size in the sky. When the moon blocks the glare of the sun, the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, will be briefly visible.

Below are several maps of the eclipse’s path as well as images of what you might experience during the event.

Where Can I See the Total Eclipse?

The eclipse will begin at sunrise over the Pacific Ocean, then cut through Mexico and cross the United States from Texas to Maine. Most of North America will see a partial eclipse, but viewers within the deepest shadow — a band sliding from Mazatlán, Mexico, to the Newfoundland coast near Gander, Canada — will experience a total solar eclipse.

Percentage of

the sun obscured

during the eclipse

Indianapolis

Little Rock

San Antonio

Viewers inside the path of the total eclipse may notice a drop in temperature , a lull or shift in the wind , the appearance of bright planets in the sky, and the quieting of birds and other wildlife.

Many cities lie inside the path of the total eclipse, as shown below, the width of which varies from 108 miles to 122 miles.

5:13 p.m. NDT

20% partial eclipse

NEWFOUNDLAND

SASKATCHEWAN

Fredericton

4:33 p.m. ADT

3:26 p.m. EDT

3:20 p.m. EDT

Minneapolis

3:18 p.m. EDT

3:13 p.m. EDT

San Francisco

90% partial eclipse

3:05 p.m. EDT

Los Angeles

1:51 p.m. CDT

1:40 p.m. CDT

1:33 p.m. CDT

12:16 p.m. CST

12:12 p.m. CST

11:07 a.m. MST

Mexico City

EL SALVADOR

12:23 p.m. CST

1:36 p.m. CDT

3:09 p.m. EDT

3:27 p.m. EDT

Explore our interactive cloud outlook for eclipse viewing times and average cloud data at your location.

What Will I See?

A composite image of the 2017 solar eclipse over Madras, Ore.

Aubrey Gemignani/NASA

If the sky is clear, viewers in the path of the total eclipse should see a “diamond ring” effect a few seconds before and after the total eclipse, as the edge of the sun slips in and out of view.

The “diamond ring” effect during the 2017 solar eclipse.

Rami Daud/NASA, Alcyon Technical Services

The sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, is normally hidden by the sun’s glare. These tendrils and sheets of gas, heated to a million degrees Fahrenheit or more, are in constant motion and shaped by the sun’s swirling magnetic field.

The sun’s corona during the 2017 solar eclipse.

The sun is relatively active this year and is nearing the expected peak of its 11-year solar cycle . Researchers at Predictive Science are using data about the sun’s magnetic field to predict and model a dramatic corona for the April eclipse.

A prediction of how the sun’s corona might appear during the April 8 total eclipse.

Predictive Science

What Colors Should I Wear?

As the sky darkens, light-sensitive cells in human eyes become more sensitive to blue and green hues than to reds and oranges. This shift in color perception is known as the Purkinje effect , after a 19th-century Czech scientist, and is typically seen at twilight.

Watching the 2017 total eclipse at Southern Illinois University.

Andrea Morales for The New York Times

To take advantage of the Purkinje effect, wear green clothes or a contrasting combination of greens and reds. Blue-green colors (shorter wavelengths) will appear brighter, while red colors (longer wavelengths) will appear to recede into the darkness.

What If I Miss It?

The next two total solar eclipses in the United States won’t occur until 2044 and 2045 . But eclipse chasers might catch one in 2026 in Greenland, Iceland and Spain; 2027 along the coast of Northern Africa; 2028 in Australia and New Zealand; or 2030 across Southern Africa and Australia.

A Total Solar Eclipse Is Coming. Here’s What You Need to Know.

These are answers to common questions about the April 8 eclipse, and we’re offering you a place to pose more of them.

By Katrina Miller

What’s the Cloud Forecast for Eclipse Day? See if the Weather Is on Your Side.

April 8 could be your best opportunity to see a total solar eclipse for decades. But if clouds fill the sky, you may miss the spectacle.

By Josh Katz, K.K. Rebecca Lai and William B. Davis

• Share full article

Our Coverage of the Total Solar Eclipse

Hearing the Eclipse:  A device called LightSound is being distributed to help the blind and visually impaired experience what they can’t see .

Maine Brac es Itself :  Businesses and planning committees are eager for visitors, but some in remote Aroostook County are not sure how they feel  about lying smack in the path of totality.

A Dark Day for Buffalo:  When the sky above Buffalo briefly goes dark  on the afternoon of April 8, the city will transcend its dreary place in the public consciousness — measured as it so often is by snowstorms — if only for about three minutes. The city can’t wait.

Under the Moon’s Shadow:  The late Jay Pasachoff, who spent a lifetime chasing eclipses , inspired generations of students to become astronomers by dragging them to the ends of the Earth for a few precarious moments of ecstasy.

A Rare Return:  It is rare for a total solar eclipse to hit the same place twice — once every 366 years on average. People in certain areas will encounter April 8’s eclipse  about seven years after they were near the middle of the path of the “Great American Eclipse.”

A Small City’s Big Plans:  Let the big cities have their eclipse mega-events. In Plattsburgh, N.Y., success looks different  for everyone stopping to look up.

 No Power Outages:  When the sky darkens during the eclipse, electricity production in some parts of the country will drop so sharply that it could theoretically leave tens of millions of homes in the dark. In practice, hardly anyone will notice  a sudden loss of energy.

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