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Cover Story

Cover Story - Spanish Version

Mini-Lesson

Comprehension Quiz

Teacher's Guide and Worksheets

A Long, Hard Trip to School

Spanish Translation

Elizabeth Eckford will never forget her first day of high school. It was 50 years ago. Kids screamed at her as she tried to enter Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. A mean mob spit on her and pushed her down the stairs. "They were so angry that I would dare to try to go to that school," Eckford told TFK. Why were they angry?

Eckford was in the first group of black students to go to Central High. In 1957, many people did not believe that black and white students should go to school together.

Battle to Go to Class

In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that black students and white students could no longer be made to go to separate schools. But the governor of Arkansas still refused to let the black students enter Central High in 1957. President Dwight D. Eisenhower finally had to send 1,000 armed soldiers. They protected the black students, who entered the school on September 25, 1957.

Eckford and the other black students became known as the Little Rock Nine. "We've certainly made progress as far as race relations," says Scott Carter, who is helping to plan Central High's 50th anniversary events. "But we are not perfect, in Little Rock or as an entire society."

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