[September 25th marks the 60th
anniversary of the Little Rock Nine
integrating the city’s all-white Central High School. So this week, after a special post on Little Rock and
race, I’ll focus on a few other early Civil Rights moments, histories, and
figures.]
On three ways to remember the couragerous, groundbreaking high
schoolers.
1)
Their Words: Not at all
coincidentally, many of the Little Rock Nine went on to pursue careers in
education and journalism, and a few have written extensively about their
experiences in and after Central High in the late 1950s. Journalist Melba
Pattillo Beals has written two memoirs, Warriors
Don’t Cry (1994), which focuses most directly on in the integration
efforts, and a sequel about her later life, White
is a State of Mind (1999). Carlotta
Walls LaNier, the youngest of the nine at 14 when the integration efforts
began, worked with author Lisa Frazier Page on her own memoir, A
Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School
(2009). And teacher and consultant Terrence
Roberts wrote and published two books of his own, Lessons
from Little Rock (2009) and Simple,
Not Easy: Reflections on Community, Social Responsibility, and Tolerance
(2010). Taken together, these works introduce us to the individual identities
and perspectives of these young activists, as well as to the shared experiences
and issues that unite them and demand our engagement.
2)
Documentaries: By far the
most famous film about the students is Nine from Little Rock
(1964), filmmaker Charles
Guggenheim’s Academy Award winning documentary short that was narrated by
one of the students, Jefferson
Thomas (to date the only one who has passed away, so it’s particularly
important to have this record of his voice and perspective). But complementing
that documentary’s social and historical overview nicely is Journey
to Little Rock: The Untold Story of Minnijean Brown Trickey (2002),
which focuses closely on the life and identity of one of the nine students.
After Little Rock Brown
Trickey went on to a career in social work, taking part in First Nations
activism in Ottawa (where she received her Master’s from Carleton University)
and serving as President Clinton’s Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior for
diversity. Taken together, these two films help us understand both the
specifics of 1957 Little Rock and the long lives and arcs of each of these nine
Americans, a combination that’s vital if we’re to remember the Little Rock
Nine.
3)
Contemporary Echoes: As I
hope this blog demonstrates day in and day out, however, historical and
collective memories are also about echoes and connections in the present. One
contemporary way to remember the Little Rock Nine would be to compare them to #BlackLivesMatter,
a social movement for African American rights and equality likewise begun
by young people but centered not in education or a local community but on
social media and the internet. But offering an even more overt parallel and
echo of the Little Rock Nine, to my mind, are the students
at Arizona’s Cholla High School who in 2012 began a series
of protests and activisms in support of their Mexican
American Studies program (which has been and remains under assault from
state laws and lawmakers). If and when we hear critiques of “millenials” or
other 21st century young people as self-centered or disinterested,
the implicit or explicit contrast is generally with more communally engaged
prior generations. Yet despite generational shifts and differences, there’s a
strong through-line between the Little Rock Nine and these 21st
century youthful activists, and remembering the former can likewise help us
appreciate and celebrate the latter.
September Recap this weekend,
Ben
PS. What do you think? Other Civil Rights histories or figures you’d
highlight?
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