Thank you to the Little Rock Nine

Day 2: Little Rock, Arkansas


Today was an emotionally charged but good, important day. We started off with a trip to Little Rock High School, now a historic site due to its history as a site of school integration (and resistance to it) in 1957. The school itself is architecturally gorgeous which seems in stark contrast to the ugliness of its history. The short version is this (history teachers, I apologize.)…In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v Board of Education that schools should be integrated. Across the nation, African American children began joining white children at school. However, nine African American children in Little Rock were denied entry at LRHS.

President Eisenhower ordered that the children--who became known as The Little Rock Nine--be escorted into the school by the National Guard.

















More than 10.000 National Guard members were called to maintain order as the children walked in front of an angry mob of nearly 1000 people who saw integration as problematic.

Many of us have seen photos of the time but there was something about the comprehensive and interactive museum design that took our knowledge (and gratitude) to another level. To think about what grit and determination those kids must have had--and their families, too--as they faced down that hateful crowd. I felt scared simply seeing photos of that mob--chanting, spitting in children‘s faces, bearing placards with messages of hate. I can only imagine what it sounded like…what it felt like….to face them. I know I could not have done it and now I really feel like I/we owe them a debt of gratitude.

In addition to documenting the larger Civil Right struggle, the museum gives some attention to parallel struggles for women’s rights, worker’s rights, rights for persons with disabilities and that’s so important. As one student said, seeing the sacrifices that so many people made to create a more just world made her proud to be an American. And, I know what she meant because I felt that pride, too.

One thing that hit me as we walked through the museum was the sense that many people were afraid of institutional decline should integration occur. We’ve seen that in the past in other ways, too…such as when women were allowed to enter the military in combat roles. (or allowed into medical school, law school, business school, etc, etc…but I digress.) Now we know that women can fight along side men and the world won’t go to heck in a hand-basket. What can we learn from this? How are past struggles for equality and justice similar to/different from current ones? What fears do we have currently have, as a nation, that might be unfounded? What things do we fight against that might better be embraced?

As we did yesterday, we asked two friendly museum employees what it means to be an American. In our conversation tonight, students agreed that the spirit and eloquence with which they spoke left us feeling inadequate. I fear I will do them an injustice by paraphrasing them, but here goes…

Cordell said that being an American means being individual and living out your ideals and trying to be the best you that you can be. It means living authentically. Crystal said, “Loving your country is like loving your mother…you say “I hate you, you make me crazy, but you still love your mom and that’s who you are, that’s where you come from. It’s the same way with being an American. Sometimes the things we do make you nuts, but it’s who you are and you love your country.”

That spoke volumes to me. In my view, we have a past (and, frankly, a present) that is marked by violence and various forms of injustice. But, we are *not* just those things. Although we’ve only traveled 4 days, we’ve talked with so many wonderful people and heard so many stories of change and stories of hope. Stories that show me what we *can* do when we join together with a common goal. This is the America that I know and love.

John F. Kennedy once said that “The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we wish to be treated.” I think this continues to be our clarion call. Just two days ago I got a powerful lesson about this…but that’ll be another blog post. Stay tuned. :-)