Little Rock Nine Thesis

535 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Little rock nine and segregation

Segregation was a raging issue during the 1950’s, however, at that time an American Civil Rights Movement event occurred, sending nine African-American kids into an all-white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Little Rock Nine, as they have been come to be known were relentlessly barraged due to the color of their skin, yet they endured the torturous environment for the betterment of the African American community. Even the youngest at the age of 14, Carlotta Walls LaNier stayed strong through the hardships in order to provide a more equal life to those around her. Carlotta Walls LaNier’s compassion and concern for the welfare of others and her natural drive for success allowed her to endure the pain and torture caused by attending school …show more content…

To be honest with you, that is what really got me through the whole year, that I knew this was ignorance that was making these statements and not the type of people that I would associate with.” (Binokvitz). Carlotta accepted the reality she was facing, not denying that she was not hurt by the ignorant comments she heard. However, she didn’t act on her emotions, instead she stayed calm and understood that she need not act in the unrefined way of her white counterparts. Instead of acting back, LaNier exhibited her determination as she faced constant sieges of insults and harassment while staying positive, to help herself and the other eight students integrated with her. Aside from being compassionate and caring, Carlotta Walls LaNier had a natural drive for success, and had a strong dedication to her education. When opening up on why she chose to be a part of Little Rock Nine, Carlotta began to describe, “She [Carlotta] spoke of the strong influence her parents and extended family instilled in her to pursue education to the highest

Show More
Related

  • Ernest Green

    2341 Words  | 5 Pages

    Testament to his resilience and determination in the face of angry segregationists, Ernest assumed the role of head of his family at the age of sixteen, after his father’s death in 1953. Ernest’s mother, an elementary school teacher, and his younger brother Scott both respected this new allotment Ernest assumed at such a young age. His mother knew it was useless attempting to persuade the headstrong Ernest to reconsider attendance at Little Rock Central High School after he had been selected as one of the nine Negro children to attend. Students were selected based ...

    Read More

  • Vivaldi Chapter 5 Summary

    388 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Whistling Vivaldi, in chapter 5 it talks about how a white student takes a class with the majority of the people in the class being black and two white people including him. The book talked about how we felt like he couldn't talk in the class, and he felt like he had to be conscious of what he said because he didn't want to make any racial comments that could offend the people in his class. This certain example, was very interesting to me in the aspect that in all of the classes I've been in I've been the majority, I have never known what's it's like to be the minority nor have I ever thought about the people that are in my class that are the minority, I never considered how they felt before reading this book. It's very interesting to me

    Read More

  • The Republic Of Nature Chapter Summary

    2028 Words  | 5 Pages

    The environmental perspectives drawn in this chapter allows the reader to see just how difficult the daily task of going to school was on Linda. The color line not only kept African-Americans out of the arena of education, but it also hindered their ability to live sufficient lives due to the environmental hardships they endured. The author also shared insight on the African-Americans known as Exodusters, who were freed slaves displaced after the Civil War that migrated to Topeka Kansas that made up the populations of Tennesseetown in Mudtown. The color line dispute came to a head in 1950 with the case of” Brown versus the Board of Education of Topeka.” This controversial case was tried in the Supreme Court with the decision being made to end all segregated schools allowing African-American children to go to the same schools afforded to white

    Read More

  • Melba Pattillo Beals', Warriors Don't Cry

    2530 Words  | 6 Pages

    In the book Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals, the author describes what her reactions and feelings are to the racial hatred and discrimination she and eight other African-American teenagers received in Little Rock, Arkansas during the desegregation period in 1957. She tells the story of the nine students from the time she turned sixteen years old and began keeping a diary until her final days at Central High School in Little Rock. The story begins by Melba talking about the anger, hatred, and sadness that is brought up upon her first return to Central High for a reunion with her eight other classmates. As she walks through the halls and rooms of the old school, she recalls the horrible acts of violence that were committed by the white students against her and her friends.

    Read More

  • Conrack Movie Essay

    596 Words  | 2 Pages

    He shows respect and kindness for his students (who eventually love and appreciate him) while using humor on occasion to find common ground and a new attitude about race relations. The knowledge he offers dampens the oppression of their ignorance and instills pride in who they are and what they know about the outside world and about themselves. The school principal perpetuates ?? her disdain ?? for what she calls her "babies" as she prepares them for the hard knocks of the world she experienced and envisions for them. She tells Conrack, "I don't have your advantages. I've always known I was colored. When I was a negro, I knew I was colored. And now that I'm black, I know which color that is" (Conrack, n.d., "Did you know?"/Quotes section). Vineberg (2015) characterizes her as "a formidable mixture of African American resentment and righteous superiority and black self-hatred." Eventually, she tells him she sees that he loves the

    Read More

  • The Long Shadow of Little Rock: The Story of Elizabeth Eckford

    610 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1950's America, there was a uprising that would sculpt the world into the place we now inhabit. The particular event in question is one concerning the black communities plight in 1950's America, with names such such as Rosa Parks, Emmett Till and (most importantly), Elizabeth Eckford Heading the list of names who took a stand, and, in turn, made America the place it is today. As the years went by, details of the many riots the segregation incurred were documented. The focus of this essay will be on a particular documentation titled 'The Long Shadow of Little Rock', a book published in 1962 on what happened to Elizabeth Eckford in Little Rock, Arkansas. However, just what can we learn from this Document?

    Read More

  • What Is Evelyn White's View Of Nature

    1737 Words  | 4 Pages

    Not only does White discuss those instances of racial prejudice, she also talks about how racism affected her in her adult life. She is unsure if her being black was the reason her group of faculty members were denied a boat to explore the river. However, finally at the end of her essay, White explains how she overcame her fear and connected with a part of her identity that allowed her to find peace and strength in nature. She talks about how her ancestors from Africa were not afraid of the world around them and how they embraced it and how she

    Read More

  • Separate Pasts Analysis

    1478 Words  | 3 Pages

    In McLaurin’s hometown of Wade, North Carolina, segregation was obvious and everywhere in daily routines of life. Segregation was often meant to mean that blacks had separate facilities from whites, yet equal. However, this was often not the case. In fact, it was quite opposite. Many times, a public restroom for white was well kept, nice, and clean, whereas if it was for a black, it was dirty and rundown. A good example of the difference in facilities for whites and blacks were the elementary schools McLaurin described. The black elementary school was a one-story frame building, had no lunch program, no indoor plumbing, poor sports equipment, and hardly a playground. The white elementary school however, was a two-story brick building, “a large auditorium and stage, indoor plumbing and modern restrooms, a well-equipped kitchen, and a large dining room in which hot lunches were served daily (23).” It is clear when the two schools are compared against one another, that there is a vast difference in facilities which are for blacks, and those that a...

    Read More

  • Baldwin and The Little Rock Nine

    2329 Words  | 5 Pages

    Throughout his literature, James Baldwin discusses the issues of racial inequality within America and discusses reasons for the conflicts between races, proposing his solutions to the problems. One of the most important and recurring motifs between his works is the idea of history; the history of whites in western society and its origin in European thinking and the history of the American Negro, whose history is just as American as his white counterpart’s. The importance of these histories as being one combined “American history” is integral to the healing process between the two races. The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision is a landmark event for blacks and whites alike, and the events following three years later in Little Rock, Arkansas mark the beginning of a long journey to fulfill the promise of equal education made by the Supreme Court. The 1957 events in Little Rock quickly became the nationally covered story of the Little Rock Nine, a legacy that still lives on today despite a James Baldwin prediction made in his essay “Take Me to the Water.” Specifically, nine African-American students were given permission by the Little Rock school board to attend Central High School, one of the nation’s top 40 high schools, integrating a formally all-white campus. During the initial weeks, these students were prevented from entering the school by US military summoned by the Arkansas governor. The Little Rock case drew immediate media attention and became a nationwide symbol of the civil rights movement. The story of the Little Rock Nine embodies James Baldwin’s arguments and observations regarding necessity of education as a crucial step to achievin...

    Read More

  • Essay On Microaggressions

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    Eduardo Bonilla-Silva and Sue both demonstrate from their research that Whites do not comprehend the impact of their unconscious biases. These biases towards students of colour in a white-based post-secondary school environment can result in stress and weak interracial relationships. This is an issue since the significance of these everyday actions is not fully recognized and acknowledged. I will elaborate on a variety of examples, specifically the influence of the peers, and faculty.

    Read More

  • The Little Rock Nine

    1547 Words  | 4 Pages

    In September 1957, nine African American high school students set off to be the first African American students to desegregate the all white Central High School. The six agirls and the three boys were selected by their brightness and capability of ignoring threats of the white students at Central High. This was all part of the Little Rock school board’s plan to desegregate the city schools gradually, by starting with a small group of kids at a single high school. However, the plan turned out to be a lot more complex when Governor Orval Faubus decided not to let the nine enter the school.

    Read More

  • The Back Of The Bus Analysis

    648 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mary Mebane used her own experience on the bus to show how segregation affected her life. Mary Mebane points out, white people “could sit anywhere they choose, even in the colored section. Only the black passengers had to obey segregation laws.” When Mebane was young, she saw a conflict on the bus. The driver asked a black person who sat in the ‘no-man’s-land’ to move back to colored section to give the seat for the white person who was standing on the bus because the bus was full. Segregation on the bus represented how white people unequally treat black people. When black people refused this driver to move, the driver try to send them to police. Black people were living in the shadow of racism and segregation at that time. However, that situation still affects school system and community now. Mebane asserts, “It was a world without option.” Black people have lower economic and social status because they are restricted to a small box because of segregation. “In Six Decades After Brown Ruling, in US Schools Still Segregated”, Dexter Mullins claims that in some schools like Valley West Elementary School in Houston, about 90% of people are not white people. These kinds of schools do not have enough funds to support adequate school resource to these students, and these students have lower opportunities to contact with cultural diversity. Both reasons negatively impact on the

    Read More

  • White Women Race Matters Summary

    1706 Words  | 4 Pages

    Unlike hooks and Frankenberg who give detailed views on the idea of whiteness that consistently criticize it as a way of thinking that influences our lives, instead McIntosh gives the readers a perspective of whiteness from a privileged white woman. McIntosh 's admittance and understanding to her class and racial advantage allows her to be able to view the problems surrounding whiteness and by doing so, allows her to make the changes needed to make a difference. Even with the different class viewpoint, McIntosh acknowledges the idea that "whites are taught to think their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average.." (McIntosh 98) and that this way of thinking creates a situation where whites view non white individuals to be abnormal and under average. This prescribed way of thinking produces the idea that if a white individual volunteers or works to help others, this helpfulness is a way of assisting non-whites to be more like whites. This form of education that the people, who have access to education, receive can then be understood as being obviously problematic. The perspective of class is an important viewpoint from McIntosh because as a privileged white woman, she is provided with more access to education and varying resources than many people. Again, the subject of education is brought forward. This access to the different educational institutions that she has had and her acknowledgement to her uneducated ideas on race show how the educational system had failed her. "As a white feminist, I knew that I had not previously known I was 'being racist ' and that I had never set out to 'be racist '" ( Frankenberg 3). Although Frankenberg had begun with the goal of working for the rights of feminism, her lack of knowledge on race, hindered her from understanding more aspects of

    Read More

  • The House Behind the Cedars by Charles W. Chesnutt

    991 Words  | 2 Pages

    For example, when Mrs. Tryon heard Rena was coloured, she was disappointed. “The lady, who had been studying her as closely as good manners would permit, sighed regretfully.” (161) There, Mrs. Tryon might have a good plan for Rena, but the racial society would not accept; since Rena was a mulatto, Mrs. Tryon could not do anything to help Rena in white social life. The racial circumstance does not only apply to mulattos, but it also expresses the suffering of black people.

    Read More

  • Institutionalized Racism In Public Schools By Zz Packer

    1679 Words  | 4 Pages

    Because the counselor sees that Dina is an African American student in an all-pronged white school, she assumes that she cannot fit into the white patriarchal system, which includes playing “frustrating games for smart people” (Drinking Coffee Elsewhere 117). The counselor assumes that Dina’s African American race deters her from being part of their school system. In many other instances,. Dina faces more events that show how institutionalized racism is seen in the workforce.

    Read More

More about Little Rock Nine Thesis

Open Document