faubus ordered little rock central high school to close on september 1958.
faubus ordered little rock central high school to close on september 1958.
when did faubus order little rock central high school to close?
september 1958
the little rock nine incident of 1957 centered around little rock central high school brought arkansas to national attention. after the little rock school board had voted to begin carrying out desegregation in compliance with the law, segregationist protesters physically blocked nine black students recruited by the naacp from entering the school. governor orval faubus deployed the arkansas national guard to support the segregationists, and only backed down after judge ronald davies of u.s. district court for the eastern district of arkansas granted an injunction from the u.s. department of justice compelling him to withdraw the guard. white mobs began to riot when the nine black students began attending school. president dwight d. eisenhower, on the request of little rock mayor, deployed the 101st airborne division to little rock and federalized the arkansas national guard to protect the students and ensure their safe passed to school. little rock's four public high schools were closed in september 1958, only reopening a year later. integration across all grades was finally achieved in fall 1972. the little rock school episode drew international attention to the troubled state of race relations in the united states.
history of arkansas
eisenhower hoped that the passage of the civil rights act would, at least temporarily, remove the issue of civil rights from the forefront of national politics, but events in arkansas would force him into action. the school board of little rock, arkansas created a federal court-approved plan for desegregation, with the program to begin implementation at little rock central high school. fearing that desegregation would complicate his re-election efforts, governor orval faubus mobilized the national guard to prevent nine black students, known as the "little rock nine," from entering central high. though eisenhower had not fully embraced the cause of civil rights, he was determined to uphold federal authority and to prevent an incident that could embarrass the united states on the international stage. eisenhower convinced faubus to withdraw the national guard, but a mob prevented the black students from attending central high. in response, eisenhower sent the army into little rock, and the army ensured that the little rock nine could attend central high. faubus derided eisenhower's actions, claiming that little rock had become "occupied territory," and in 1958 he temporarily shut down little rock high schools.
presidency of dwight d. eisenhower