Term paper on Little Rock School Crisis (1957)

Little Rock School Crisis

term paper RESOURCE GUIDE

In 1957 a federal judge ordered Little Rock, Arkansas, to enroll nine African Americans in the city’s Central High School. Segregationist Governor Orval Faubus used the National Guard to defy this order. Pressure from President Eisenhower and another federal court order convinced Faubus to remove the Guard, but a threatening crowd forced the African American students to flee the school. This, as well as rioting in the African American section of the city, caused Eisenhower to deploy the already-nationalized Guardsmen and to send in U.S. Army troops. The African American students, under military protection, attended school. Little Rock closed all its public schools the following year to prevent integration.
Suggestions for Term Papers

1. Compare the roles of Governor Faubus and President Eisenhower in the crisis.

2. Discuss public reaction to the crisis.

3. Discuss the defiance of integration in other southern public schools.

4. Analyze the role of federal courts in integrating southern public schools.

5. Discuss the remembrances of African Americans who enrolled in newly integrated schools during the 1950s.

Suggested Sources : See entries 60 and 71 for related items.

REFERENCE SOURCES

Historical Dictionary of School Segregation and Desegregation: The American Experience . Jeffrey A. Raffel. Westport , CT : Greenwood , 1998. Comprehensive dictionary treating issues, topics, and events relevant to the history of school integration, along with the attendant conditions.

GENERAL SOURCES

Adams, Julianne L., and Thomas A. Deblack. Civil Disobedience: An Oral History of School Desegregation in Fayetteville, Arkansas, 1954–65 . Fayetteville : University of Arkansas Press, 1994. Collection of interviews that provides insight into how Fayetteville became the first southern city to obey the law and accommodate the Brown decision.

Berman, Daniel M. It Is So Ordered: The Supreme Court Rules on School Segregation . New York : Norton, 1966. Concise examination of legal history regarding the major decisions of the 1950s; provides insight into the conditions under which the Little Rock actions were undertaken.

Blaustein, Albert P., and Clarence C. Ferguson, Jr. Desegregation and the Law: The Meaning and Effect of the School Segregation Cases . 2d ed. rev. New York : Vantage, 1962. Detailed exposition of the various school segregation cases and the ensuing results.

Brown, Philip L. A Century of ‘‘Separate But Equal” Education in Anne Arundel County . New York : Vantage, 1988. Good historical examination of school segregation and discrimination over a long period of time in a Maryland county.

Duram, James C. A Moderate among Extremists: Dwight D. Eisenhower and the School Integration Crisis . Chicago : Nelson-Hall, 1981. Revealing and interesting account of Eisenhower and his policies during these momentous years.

Haskins, James, and Jim Haskins. Separate But Not Equal: The Dream and the Struggle . New York : Scholastic Trade, 1988. Comprehensive history of the struggle for equal education. Opens with the confrontation at Little Rock , then goes back to the beginnings in the nineteenth century.

Hauser, Pierre. Great Ambitions: From the ‘‘Separate But Equal” Doctrine to the Birth of the NAACP (1896–1909) . New York : Chelsea House, 1995. Easy-to-read background history that provides insight into the conditions that led to the Brown decision and eventually to Little Rock action.

SPECIALIZED SOURCES

Beals, Melba P. Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High . New York : Pocket Books, 1995. Thorough and detailed account of the integration of Central High School by nine brave African American students. The author was one of them and provides a vivid picture of the violence and fear.

Huckaby, Elizabeth. Crisis at Central High, Little Rock, 1957–58 . Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1980. Brief but thorough case study of the developments and activities regarding the Little Rock incident.

O’Neil, Laurie A. Little Rock: The Desegregation of Central High . Brookfield, CT: Millbrook, 1994. Brief, easy-to-read but enlightening perspective regarding the struggle and its background. From the publisher’s Spotlight on American History series.

Wells, John G. Time Bomb, The Faubus Revolt: A Documentary—1977 Addendum . Little Rock: General Publishing, 1977. Describes the Faubus opposition. First published in 1962, this 1977 effort provides concluding commentary.

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

Faubus, Orval. Down from the Hills . Little Rock: Pioneer, 1980. Detailed and thorough autobiography describing Faubus’s life and career; a second issue was published by Democrat Printing and Lithographing in 1985.

Reed, Roy. Faubus: The Life and Times of an American Prodigal . Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1997. Recent biography on the controversial governor; revealing treatment of segregation issues.

AUDIOVISUAL SOURCES

School Colors . Santa Monica, CA: PBS Home Video, 1994. Videocassette. Up-to-date, insightful, and interesting 143-minute examination of racial issues in Berkeley (CA) high school. Dating, violence, segregation, and other issues are discussed by students along with footage of current conditions.

WORLD WIDE WEB

Rains, Craig. Little Rock Central High 40th Anniversary . 1997. http://www.centralhigh57.org/ Site commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the struggle in Little Rock. Fine exposition with links to the event and the history that created it.