Many students in many schools have learned about the Little Rock Nine. The Little Rock Nine were a group of African American students who enrolled at a segregated school, Central High School, in Little Rock, Arkansas. They enrolled in the month of September 1957. These nine students were Thelma Mothershed, Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Gloria Ray, Jefferson Thomas, Melba Beals, Terrence Roberts, Carlotta Walls, and Ernest Green. The reason why they were able to be enrolled was actually that their enrollment was supported by the ruling in Brown v. The Board of Education in 1954. For those of you who don’t know, Brown v. The Board of Education ruled that segregated schooling was unconstitutional because it violated the “equal protection clause” of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. But I digress. On their first day of class, the governor at the time called in about 270 soldiers of the Arkansas National Guard in hopes of blocking the Little Rock Nine’s entry into the school. However, President Eisenhower sent in troops to escort them to school later on.

While enrolled at the high school, the Little Rock Nine faced many challenges. They were verbally and physically attacked by white students. Minnijean Brown was pushed so hard into a locker that there was an impression in it, she was targeted by a group of white girls who stepped on her heels until they bled, spat at her, told her she was ugly, called her the N-word, and lastly, one of the girls even threw a purse full of combination locks at her head. She then proceeded to call them “white trash”, and in response was expelled. Melba Pattillo had acid thrown in her eyes, was kicked, and beaten. Elizabeth Eckford was pushed down a flight of stairs. Gloria Ray’s mother was fired because she refused to remove Gloria from school. White boys hit the male members of the Nine with wet towels in the gym and broke glass on the shower floor, then filled the room with steam so they couldn’t see the glass. After the female white students took their showers, they shut off the cold water so the girl members of the Nine would be burnt by hot water. They also weren’t allowed to participate in extracurriculars. There were bomb threats every day, and it was so bad that they had to check the lockers every night to make sure there weren’t any explosives within the school. Many of the Nine were sent hate mail and received death threats.

Despite going through so much hate and judgment, they made a name for themselves. They were a big part of the fight for equality in the U.S. education system. They made a big impact on the world, and like the Little Rock Nine, many students today are still fighting for equal representation in their schools. Even today, colored students’ voices are snuffed out and silenced. Many students are only heard and acknowledged during Black History Month, and when the month is over, many go back to acting like Black voices don’t matter. People should take inspiration from the Little Rock Nine and continue the work they contributed to.

by: karlie r.

Audre (Audrey) Geraldine Lorde. A poet, feminist, and equal rights activist. Born February 18, 1934. She was born in New York to West Indian immigrant parents. Their names were Frederic and Linda Belmar. She attended Catholic schools, later graduating from Hunter High School. Around this time of graduation is when she began her career.

her skills as a poet led her to great success. Before graduating from Hunter High School, she published the poem “The First Cities." Her poem was published by Seventeen Magazines. Her school rejected her talents and called the poem “inappropriate." She always felt like an outcast, even though poetry came naturally to her. 

Audre Lorde was a proud feminist, A figure who fought to show that women were equal to men. It was her hope that women would no longer be treated as inferior or less intelligent. However, that’s not all she was great for. Audre Lorde was an equal rights activist. This is with colored people, LGBTQ people, and as previously mentioned, women. In 1979, Audre Lorde spoke at the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. She earlier joined a group called “The Kitchen Table.” This was to uplift black women or women in general.

All in all, Audre Lorde did a lot of good in her lifetime, she spoke her feelings about things that became topics of the world. She died at the age of 58 due to liver and breast cancer, still never forgotten. Here I am today still remembering all the important things she’s done. Audre Lorde, the voice of the unheard, the quiet-spoken, and the reserved. 

by: jennifer p.

On February 4, 1913, Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. Rosa’s father was a carpenter and her mother was a teacher. Rosa was sick most of the time as a younger child. Her parents separated and her mother took her and her brother to Pine Level, a town adjacent to Montgomery, Alabama. From there, Rosa spent the rest of her childhood on her grandparents’ farm. Rosa did not attend public school until the age of eleven. She attended Industrial School for Girls in Montgomery where she took various vocational and academic courses. She began laboratory school for her secondary education but never finished because she was forced to drop out to care for her ailing grandmother. 

In 1932, at the age of 19, Parks met and married Raymond Parks, a barber and an active member of the NAACP. After graduating high school with Raymond’s support, Parks became involved in civil rights issues by joining the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP in 1943, serving as the chapter’s youth leader and secretary to NAACP president E.D. Nixon, a post she held until 1957. Raymond and Rosa never had children. 

On December 1, 1955, Parks was arrested for refusing a bus driver’s instructions to give up her seat to a white passenger. She later recalled that her refusal wasn’t because she was physically tired, but that she was of giving in. The bus began to fill up to where the whites were standing in the aisles so the bus driver moved the sign back so the whites could sit. Three of the other black passengers on the bus complied with the driver but Parks refused and remained seated. The driver demanded, “Why don’t you stand up?” and Parks replied, “I don’t think I should have to stand up.” The driver then called the police and she was arrested. The police arrested Parks at the scene and charged her with violation of Chapter 6, Section 11, of the Montgomery City Code. She was taken to police headquarters where she was released on bail later that night. 

by: carissa m.

The Little River County Race War began in southwestern Arkansas around March of 1899 and consisted of the murder of many defenseless African Americans throughout Little River County. It is reported that the motive for this race war was an African American man, General Duckett, killing a white planter, James Stockton, in his home on March 18, 1899. After he committed the murder, Duckett hid away in the Red River bottoms, but he then decided to surrender on March 21, 1899. Soon after Duckett’s surrender, the Sheriff escorted him to Richmond, where the county seat was located at the time. A few miles into the trip, the two encountered a white mob estimated to include about 200 people. The mob took Duckett from the Sheriff and HANGED him. According to some accounts, before he was hanged, he confessed to the murder of Stockton. This marked the beginning of four days of pure terror for any African American citizens located in Little River County.

After the murder of Duckett took place, the rumor of black insurrection began to spread even more and it was believed that 23 or 33 African American citizens were plotting to kill white people. According to the Mena Star, on March 23 “seven negro men [were] lynched by the citizens of that section. All of the victims … [were all] over the country and met their fates at different times and in different localities. In the gang that was plotting for a race war, there were thirty-three negroes, and the entire number has likely been strung up in the thickets.” According to reports, that same day in New Boston Texas, “Benjamin Jones was found dead on Hurricane Bend and from New Boston, it is learned that Joe King and Moses Jones were found hanging to the trees at Horseshoe Curve today.” The murder spree did not stop there, there were many more and it is said that most of the victim’s bodies were left “hanging to trees in various parts of the country, strung up.” There was one man that tried to escape, but he was shot and thrown into the river. The names of those who were killed were General Duckett, Edwin Godwin, Adam King, Joseph Jones, Benjamin Jones, Moses Jones, and an unknown man. This caused complete havoc. Many of the county’s black citizens panicked and immediately began leaving the area. About three wagon loads crossed the Red River at Miller County in the dead of the night and were able to make it to Texarkana. It is even believed that the neighborhood of Rocky Comfort and Richmond had left their homes and were terrified to return. The race war was reported in a variety of local newspapers for about two months until May of 1899 when the New York Sun shared the various accounts and was able to make it a national story.

 This is an important event that I feel is completely overlooked. Almost an entire race was pushed out of their homes due to a rumor that we don’t even know is true. This is a common theme with these kinds of events. Rumors are created and words are twisted, resulting in violence upon a certain group that is completely uncalled for. And in this case, a group of white men murdered defenseless black people to avenge ONE man. I find it shocking that something this big can be brushed over and not even taught. All of these kinds of events are embedded into our history, whether we want to admit it or not. That’s just our history, and we have to realize that the only way to grow from it is to learn it. 

by: Keira e.