Question

In 3–5 sentences, summarize the event of the Little Rock Nine and analyze its significance in the history of civil rights in the United States.

(4 points)

Answer 1

In September 1957, nine African American students — later known as the Little Rock Nine — attempted to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, but were initially blocked by the Arkansas National Guard on orders of Governor Orval Faubus and mob violence. After state resistance, President Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the Guard and sent the 101st Airborne to enforce the students’ safe entry and uphold a federal court order to desegregate. The episode was a dramatic test of Brown v. Board of Education and demonstrated that the federal government would intervene to enforce civil rights against state defiance. Its national visibility galvanized the civil rights movement, exposed entrenched segregation in the South, and set an important precedent for federal enforcement of desegregation.