Little Rock Central High School

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the 1954 US Supreme Court decision that declared segregated public schools to be unlawful, was severely tested during the attempt to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. Would the United States enforce civil rights laws when so many opposed them? It has been 50 years since federal troops escorted nine African-American teenagers to the previously all-white Little Rock Central High School. Central High continues to educate the young people of Little Rock, but it is now also a National Historic Site.

Read about what it was like in Little Rock in 1957:
Bitters in the Honey: Tales of Hope and Disappointment Across Divides of Race and Time

Crisis at Central High, Little Rock, 1957-58

A Life is More Than a Moment: the Desegration of Little Rock’s Central High

Turn Away Thy Son: Little Rock, the Crisis That Shocked the Nation

The Long Shadow of Little Rock: a Memoir

Warriors Don’t Cry: a Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High

White is a State of Mind: a Memoir

Find images in eLibrary CE (Curriculum Edition) and History Study Center, two of our subscription databases.

You can find more information about the history of Central High and also find a schedule of 50th anniversary events at these websites.
Little Rock Central High School, National Historic Site
and Central High 50th Anniversary.