Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Elmer J. Whiting, III, © Gertrude Samuels. Object number 2011.17.201.
Ernest Green on his graduation day
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.
The Ernest Green Story
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ernest_Green_Story
“After the Little Rock Nine’s year at Central High School, many schools follow in their footsteps. In 1960 desegregation began in Louisiana; at first, it was boycotted in New Orleans but the protesting eventually ceased. Places such as Las Vegas, Nevada, and Boston, Massachusetts, also started desegregating and fighting for equal education.
The Little Rock Nine was one of the first groups that integrated into an all-White high school. They accomplished their goals of surviving a year at Central High School and starting a fight for desegregation. Ernest Green managed to graduate despite the constant threats and attacks from white students and their parents. Two other students from the Little Rock Nine also graduated in later years. By the 1970s, virtually all schools were fully desegregated. The Little Rock Nine started a fight for equal education among Blacks and Whites and achieved their goal. For this accomplishment, they were awarded a Congressional Gold Medal in 1998 by President Bill Clinton. Their legacy is long-lasting, and their impact on diversity in schools is still seen today.”
Crisis at Central High
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_at_Central_High
Written by
Elizabeth Huckaby (memoir)
Richard Levinson
William Link
Directed by Lamont Johnson
Starring
Joanne Woodward
Charles Durning
Henderson Forsythe
Calvin Levels
William Russ
Tamu Blackwell
Shannon John
Bonnie Pemberton
Music by Billy Goldenberg
Crisis at Central High is a 1981 made-for-television movie about the Little Rock Integration Crisis of 1957, based on a draft of the memoir by the same name by former assistant principal Elizabeth Huckaby.
William Link and Richard Levinson wrote the screenplay and were executive producers together with David Susskind of Time-Life Productions. The film starred Joanne Woodward as Huckaby and told the events from that character’s point of view, although one obituary at the time of Huckaby’s death cited her as saying the TV-movie enlarged her role. Woodward was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special and a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, in 1981 and 1982 respectively.
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 its significant role in the civil rights movement. In 1999, President Clinton awarded each member of the group the Congressional Gold Medal. The nine also 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.”
Little Rock Nine Memorial, north entrance of the Arkansas State Capitol building in the background. Little Rock Arkansas.
Little Rock Nine, life-size sculptures. (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The Little Rock Nine Recall The Brutal Reality of Desegregation | The Oprah Winfrey Show | OWN
The Little Rock Nine Come Face-To-Face With Their Tormentors |
The Oprah Winfrey Show | OWN
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THE LITTLE ROCK NINE – DALE RICARDO SHIELDS (IFORCOLOR Collective)
VIDEO
https://youtu.be/negsY4ldAC0
