In the 1950’s and 1960’s, race was an issue most didn’t like to talk about. Whites stayed with whites, and blacks stayed with blacks. That was until 1957 when nine black students entered the doors of Little Rock Central High, an all white school.
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Central
This category contains stories featuring Little Rock Central High School, its desegregation, and continuing integration prominently.
Mixed Feelings About Everything
I Was Ashamed of How Faubus Acted and Myself for Being So Complacent
Integration wasn’t really a problem where she lived so she was able to look at the whole picture instead of just one side.
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I Saw the National Guard Almost Every Day
Interviewer: Jeff Ward
Interviewee: Jane Doe
It was raining cats and dogs outside the window at about 10:15 p.m. on March 18th, 2005; when my grandmother and I sat down to do an interview for my Civics class. She was wearing her favorite shirt, a red and white horizontally striped, thin, long-sleeved shirt. She was sitting...
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A Time When Things Were Different
It was when I walked into his small five room apartment that I realized what this interview was about to mean. He was wearing blue jeans and a collared shirt, which he wears often it seems to me. My grandfather’s hair was gray and his skin was old. He told me how happy he...
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People of Different Races Can Come Together
It was April 4, 2005 when I did my interview. I did it over the phone. I called at 10:07.
It was in the spring of 1980 when my aunt Opal Sims was a student teacher in Health and P.E. at Central High School. She said that she worked with mostly women—three white women and...
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The Integration Crisis From a Child’s Perspective
On February 26, 2005, I sat down in the middle of the floor, pen braced and ready for paraphrasing, and called my grandmother, Mary Charlton, to interview her for my Civics class. I could picture her sitting at her kitchen table, legs crossed, deep in thought. The aspects of the interview that stood out...
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My Mom Wanted to Protect Us
I walk into a very organized and precise room that is always decorated differently, every time I go to her house. This is what my grandma’s living room is like, she always keeps me guessing where she will put the furniture next time I see her. My grandma is a very active woman. She...
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Nobody Anticipated Any Violence
The sitting room in my grandparent's Victorian home was, as usual, dimly lit. Across from me my sat my grandfather, preoccupied with changing the settings on his little green oxygen tank. The cheery little room seemed an odd place to have an interview about such a serious issue. I clicked the record button on...
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Troops Everywhere
A fine black man that I am interviewing is my grandfather Benjamin Craft. He was born and raised Jacksonville, Arkansas. He was born August 7, 1913. He now lives in Jacksonville Arkansas right outside of Peach Street. My grandfather grew up as the youngest out of five brothers and sisters. He was also raised...
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A Past But Not Forgotten
Thelma first attended Horace Mann high school at that present time, but when the Supreme Courts Brown vs. Board of Education decided to end public school segregation, the Federal Court ordered Little Rock to comply.
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