civil rights – Page 2 – Montessori Muddle

My students watched the video about the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock and they were shocked. Truly shocked. They had already started reading the letters to and from President Eisenhower which are powerful in that they trace the story with the actual presidential records. Then one of the students brought up the video on a laptop and they all gathered around to watch. For 5 minutes afterward there was silence in the classroom.

The ugly, vicious hatred of the mob was powerful, and the one girl, Elizabeth Eckford, just a little older than the middleschoolers, just sitting there with the crowd all round, unable to speak, proud upright, but with a shell shocked look in her eyes. The video is moving, and it brings home the strength and courage of those nine kids in a world that must have seemed to be tipping toward destruction.

101st_Airborne_at_Little_Rock_Central_High — Troops escort students to school (from Wikimedia Commons).

Recording of Eisenhower’s address to the nation on the situation in Little Rock.

In going over the timeline of human rights today, we realized that it did not have a card for the civil rights struggle of the 1950’s and 60’s. One of the key events that middle school students should be able to relate to is the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock Arkansas. Imagine having to have troops escort you into school. Imagine having to endure racial taunts every day when you were only one of nine African American students in the entire school.

The Encyclopedia of Arkansas has a nice outline of the events of 1957 in the context of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. However, the National Park Service’s website is perhaps better targeted to Middle School age range. The video below is also a good primer, and my students found it to be very powerful.

The Eisenhower Presidential Library has some of the primary documents related to the events. They give a vivid account of the events from the perspective of what the president saw.

Press release, statements by President Eisenhower and Governor Faubus from Newport, Rhode Island, September 14, 1957
Eisenhower’s diary entry on the meeting.
Eisenhower’s press release in response to the first attempts at desegregation.
Telegram of the Little Rock Mayor to Eisenhower telling about the mob that formed to prevent the desegregation of the school
Eisenhower’s response to the mayor’s telegram
Eisenhower’s Order activating the military
The mayor’s plea for troops
Eisenhower’s notes
Eisenhower’s speech (audio)
Eisenhower’s telephone calls.
Protest by Georgia Senator Russell
Eisenhower’s response to Russell
Letter of parents of Little Rock Nine to Eisenhower
Protest by Mississippi Senator Stennis
Response to Stennis
Situation report from the military
Situation report from February 6th, 1958
Situation report from February 17th, 1958
Situation report from March 10th, 1958
Jackie Robinson’s letter to Eisenhower that refers to a meeting they had and to the Central High School desegregation
Eisenhower’s reply