The term refers to a pivotal event in the Civil Rights Movement involving nine African American students who enrolled at Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was a test of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, which declared state-sponsored segregation in public schools unconstitutional. Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus initially used the National Guard to prevent the students from entering the school, defying a federal court order.
The significance of this event lies in its demonstration of the resistance to desegregation in the South and the federal government’s commitment to enforcing civil rights laws. President Dwight D. Eisenhower ultimately federalized the Arkansas National Guard and deployed the U.S. Army to protect the students and ensure their entry into the school. This underscored the conflict between state and federal authority and the lengths to which some were willing to go to maintain segregation.
