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)
grade 6

Answer 1

In 1957 nine African American students, called the Little Rock Nine, tried to attend the previously all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. State Governor Orval Faubus sent the Arkansas National Guard to stop them, so President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent federal troops to escort and protect the students into the school. The event tested the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision and showed that the federal government would sometimes have to enforce school desegregation. It became a powerful symbol of the civil rights struggle and helped push the movement for equal rights forward.