Racial Segregation In Public Schools

Great proof can be shown that African Americans citizens now have equal rights, but there is also solid evidence proving that African Americans were once held back from having the same rights as white men and women. At one point in time, there was a set of laws passed called the Jim Crow laws. These laws created an extreme enforcement of segregation between blacks and whites. In the United States’ Southern states, racial segregation was enforced until it was fully ended in every state in 1964. The Civil Rights Act, declared segregation wrong. The retraction of segregation led to integration of public schools. Although the Little Rock School Crisis was the initial effort to bringing an end to segregation in public schools, the bravery of the nine students who were willing to risk their lives in this effort proved to be of great value in the attempt at achieving equal rights in America.
Racial segregation was a substantial part of the United States’ history. The United States actually deemed it acceptable to make African Americans use different water fountains in fear of blacks giving white civilians diseases. Racist Americans compelled blacks to
use different bathrooms, and were denied housing if the landlord felt it was necessary. They were forced to sit in the back of public city buses. In the 1880’s, Jim Crow laws were passed stating that segregation was allowed and would be enforced. Society made African Americans fear not doing doing what white Americans said, because they could get thrown in jail or killed. Racial segregation sculpted how the Southern states’ societies operated in the 1900’s. In the 1900’s, segregation was on its way to be halted. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that it was unconstitutional for schools to be divided by racial lines. This meant it was now mandatory that all public schools had to authorize black students the right to merge into
LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL CRISIS 4 former “whites only” schools. In Little Rock, Arkansas, Central High School was very draconian when it came to the “whites only” policy on who attended the school. Before 1957, they had never allowed black students to attend. In September 1957, nine brave African American teens walked the halls of Central High School, taking one of the most prominent steps towards equality.
The names of the first students that transferred schools were normally forgotten and referred by their commonly known nickname. There were primitively ten black students enrolled in Central High, but Jane Hill changed her mind and dropped out before the school year started. The girls that ended up attending Central High were: Elizabeth Eckford, Carlotta Walls, Minnijean Brown, Gloria Ray, and Melba Pattillo. The boys who attended were: Ernest Green, Jefferson Thomas, and Terrance Roberts. These juveniles were all hand-picked by how well their grades and attendance were. The students became notably known by the nickname “The Little Rock Nine”.
The students were supposed to start their first day of high school on the same day as everyone else.
The Little Rock schools superintendent told the students’ parents that it would be safer for the students to go to school by themselves. Elizabeth Eckford, one of the integrated black transferees, said when she departed her bus and started making her way towards the school she heard a commotion (Magoon, 2011). What she saw was the work of Orval Faubus, the Little Rock Governor of Arkansas. He had called in the National Guard to “maintain order”, but in reality actually had them to obstruct the entry of the African American students. The superintendent drafted a plan to have all of the kids go into school together, but Elizabeth and Terrance were not informed. Melba knew about where to meet, but could not get through
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