Prepared by Leigh-Ann Wager, Stevens Cooperative School, Hoboken, NJ.

"On the first day of integration at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, angry mobs protested outside the school. Eight of The Little Rock Nine, the African-American students chosen to integrate the all-white Central High, met up beforehand so that they could have a security escort through the mob scene. One student, Elizabeth Eckford, did not receive the message about meeting beforehand. Unaware of the mobs and the meeting, she went to school on her own. She was immediately surrounded by an angry crowd. She tried to enter the school several times but soldiers from the Arkansas National Guard prevented her from crossing their line and entering the building. She was forced to continue through the crowds. This famous photo was taken showing a brave Elizabeth Eckford and an angry Hazel Bryan (now Massery) behind her. A kind white woman from the crowd helped Elizabeth to a bus bench and onto a local bus. The second document in this lesson is a first hand account from Elizabeth Eckford about her experiences that was published in Daisy Bates' book The Long Shadow. This moving excerpt will draw students into the moment captured in the powerful photograph." Taken from http://www.gilderlehrman.org/teachers/seminar_docs/civilrights_doc3.html

The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the aggregation and enhancement of partner metadata.

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Forms part of online collection: For Teachers and Students, Gilder Lehrman Institute (New York, N.Y.)