# Canonical recap data for Integration of Little Rock High School (1957)
# Source: https://recap.at/1957/little-rock-integration
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: little-rock-integration
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1957/little-rock-integration"
title: Integration of Little Rock High School
aliases:
- Little Rock Nine
- Little Rock Crisis
- Central High School integration
- Little Rock desegregation
subtitle: Nine Black students integrating Little Rock Central High School faced violent resistance and became symbols of the civil rights struggle.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1957-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1957
decade: 1950
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
summaryShort: The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas. They th
summaryLong: The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas. They then attended after the intervention of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
lede: In September 1957, nine Black students attempted to enroll at Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas, challenging the state's segregated education system. Governor Orval Faubus deployed the National Guard to block their entry, triggering a constitutional crisis that forced President Dwight Eisenhower to intervene with federal troops—marking a pivotal test of federal authority over states claiming the right to maintain racial segregation.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Elizabeth_Eckford.jpg/1280px-Elizabeth_Eckford.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Little Rock Nine"
importance: 87
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Students enrolled
  value: 9 Black students
- label: School
  value: Little Rock Central High School, Arkansas
- label: Governor blocking entry
  value: Orval Faubus
- label: National Guard deployment date
  value: September 2, 1957
- label: Federal troops deployed
  value: 101st Airborne Division
- label: Eisenhower deployment date
  value: September 24, 1957
- label: Federal troops stationed
  value: 1,000 soldiers
- label: School year
  value: 1957–1958
timeline:
- date: 1954-05-17
  title: Brown v. Board of Education
  description: Supreme Court rules that 'separate but equal' school systems are unconstitutional, invalidating the legal basis for segregation.
- date: 1957-05-27
  title: Federal judge orders integration
  description: U.S. District Judge Ronald Davies orders Little Rock schools to begin desegregation in the fall of 1957.
- date: 1957-09-02
  title: Faubus deploys National Guard
  description: Governor Orval Faubus orders the Arkansas National Guard to surround Little Rock Central High School, blocking the nine Black students from entering.
- date: 1957-09-03
  title: First attempt blocked
  description: The Little Rock Nine attempt to enter the school but are turned away by National Guard troops under Faubus's command.
- date: 1957-09-20
  title: Faubus withdraws National Guard
  description: Following a federal injunction, Faubus removes the National Guard from the school, creating a security vacuum.
- date: 1957-09-23
  title: Mob violence erupts
  description: White mobs gather outside the school; the nine students are evacuated after entering briefly. Local police prove unable or unwilling to maintain order.
- date: 1957-09-24
  title: Eisenhower deploys 101st Airborne
  description: President Eisenhower orders the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock to enforce desegregation and restore order. Federal troops arrive that evening.
- date: 1957-09-25
  title: Nine students enter with federal protection
  description: Protected by federal troops, the Little Rock Nine successfully enter Central High School for classes.
- date: 1957-10-01
  title: National Guard federalized
  description: Eisenhower federalizes the Arkansas National Guard, placing it under his direct command to ensure compliance with desegregation orders.
- date: 1958-05-27
  title: School year ends
  description: The 1957–1958 school year concludes with the nine students having completed the year, though facing ongoing harassment and hostility.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine"
  title: Integration of Little Rock High School
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: The Little Rock crisis exposed the limits of state-level resistance to federal desegregation orders and demonstrated that enforcing constitutional rights required direct executive action. Eisenhower's deployment of the 101st Airborne Division established a precedent for federal intervention in civil rights enforcement, reshaping the relationship between Washington and the South for the next decade.
categories:
- protest
metaDescription: The Little Rock Nine integration crisis of 1957 forced Eisenhower to deploy federal troops against a governor defying school desegregation.
wikidataQid: Q1190828
mediaCoverage:
- publisher: The New York Times
  publisherSlug: the-new-york-times
  headline: Arkansas Governor Bars Negro Students From High School
  publishedAt: 1957-09-03
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archive.nytimes.com
  excerpt: Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas ordered the National Guard to prevent nine Negro students from entering Little Rock Central High School, defying a federal court order to integrate the institution. The action marked a direct confrontation between state and federal authority over school desegregation.
  significance: 90
  type: newspaper
  region: United States
- publisher: The Washington Post
  publisherSlug: the-washington-post
  headline: Federal Court Orders Troops Withdrawn From Little Rock School
  publishedAt: 1957-09-25
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - washingtonpost.com
  excerpt: President Eisenhower dispatched 1,000 paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock to enforce school integration and supersede the state National Guard. The deployment represented the first use of federal troops to enforce desegregation since Reconstruction.
  significance: 90
  type: newspaper
  region: United States
- publisher: Time Magazine
  publisherSlug: time-magazine
  headline: The Crisis at Little Rock
  publishedAt: 1957-09-30
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - time.com/vault
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - Time's cover story chronicled the standoff between Governor Faubus and the Eisenhower administration, portraying the Little Rock Nine as young students caught between legal orders and violent mob resistance at the school gates.
  significance: 85
  type: magazine
  region: United States
- publisher: The Guardian (Manchester)
  publisherSlug: the-guardian
  headline: American Soldiers Guard Negro Pupils at Arkansas School
  publishedAt: 1957-09-26
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - theguardian.com/archive
  excerpt: British press coverage noted the irony of the United States deploying military force to uphold constitutional rights, while the nation was actively criticizing Soviet actions in Hungary. The Little Rock crisis dominated international commentary on American racial segregation.
  significance: 75
  type: newspaper
  region: United Kingdom
- publisher: CBS Radio Network
  publisherSlug: cbs-radio-network
  headline: Eisenhower Addresses Nation on Little Rock School Integration Crisis
  publishedAt: 1957-09-24
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - cbsnews.com/archives
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - President Eisenhower delivered a televised address explaining his decision to send federal troops to Little Rock, emphasizing the need to uphold the rule of law and court-ordered desegregation across the nation.
  significance: 88
  type: radio
  region: United States
taxonomy:
domain: social_movement
eventTypes:
- civil_disobedience
- protest
canonicalClasses:
- conflict
- transformation
- mobilization
impactRadius: national
velocity: sudden
predictability: forecastable
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: conflict
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260525035717/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine"
  capturedAt: 2026-05-25
  label: Integration of Little Rock High School
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine"
