- Collection:
- Land of (Unequal) Opportunity: Documenting the Civil Rights Struggle in Arkansas
- Title:
- Lesson from Little Rock
- Publisher:
- Fayetteville, Ark. : University of Arkansas Libraries
- Date of Original:
- 1957
- Subject:
- African Americans--Arkansas
Civil rights--Arkansas
Race discrimination--Arkansas
Segregation--Arkansas - People:
- Cartwright, Colbert S., 1924-
- Location:
- United States, Arkansas, 34.75037, -92.50044
- Medium:
- essays
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- application/pdf
- Description:
- Essay by Reverend Colbert C. Cartwright condemning the Little Rock School Board for not better preparing for integration.
Integration -- Desegregation -- African-Americans -- Blacks -- Little Rock Central High School -- Little Rock (Ark.) -- Virgil Blossom -- Little Rock -- Pulaski
"Lesson from Little Rock" Of human relations, became increasingly disturbed as they realized that the social forces of Little Rock when not being marshaled to aid in a smooth transition to integration. No one knew that what might happen. There might be trouble, for which no one was ready. Had the school board developed adequate plans with law enforcement officials for every eventuality? Several prominent Little Rock citizens investigated the possibility of bringing to the city a law enforcement official nationally known as an expert in the field of police-community realtions to councel quietly with local officials. When Dr. Blossom approached on the possibility, he replied that he had adequately studied the problem and needed no outside help. The Governor To The Rescue Governor Faubus' decision on September 2 to call out the troops and to block integration was the natural outcome of every step the Little Rock School Board had taken. It had insisted all along that the only reason the schools were integrated was that the Federal Government was forcing it to do so. It had consistently refused to seek the help of the community in gaining moral support ofr its reluctant help. Then the Governor in shining armor came to the rescue. He said the school board did not need to integrate, that since the community was not prepared for integration there would be violance. He would call out the militia as the "preservator of the peace." Dr. Blossom, the school board and Little Rock's leading citizens were stunned by Faubus' unprecedented actions. They did not want the Governor to interfere. Knowing that some racial mixing in the public schools is inevitable, they would prefer tp have it come about peacefully and on their own terms. What they failed to consider was that their whole approach had plaed directly into the hands of the members of white citi- zens councils. Having sought to prepare the communitu solely upon a legal- istic basis, they had no defense when the Governor, prompted by rabid segre- gationists in Little Rock, insisted he had found the needed loophole. Three days after the Governor order his troops to prevent in- tegration in the name of State rights, the school board found itself in the position of being on the Governor's side. It went to Federal court and petitioned the judge to suspend temporarily the plan for integration. This was exactly what the Governor and his white citizen council cohorts were pleading for. The School Board's house of cards had fully collapsed. Citizens who had agreed to compliance if there was no other way out now took fresh hope in the Governor's action and the school board's acquies- cence. Little Rock became sharply divided. Arguments among Little Rock citizens will continue for years as to whether Governor Faubus got a square deal in Federal court. Few will question why the problem arose in the first place. Fewer still will be aware of the responsibility the school board must share for the ridicu- lous situation which arose. The experiences of Washington, Louisville, and Clinton all point to the fact that transition, difficult at best, can come about only if all the resources of the community are marshaled to help. Tey have taugh that the moral and social psychological aspects of the problem must be adequately considered. Little Rock tried a different path. On Sept. 2 it was confronted with a "dead end" sign. It is still a question whether the school board can read the sign. - Metadata URL:
- http://digitalcollections.uark.edu/cdm/ref/collection/Civilrights/id/1337
- IIIF manifest:
- https://digitalcollections.uark.edu/iiif/2/Civilrights:1337/manifest.json
- Additional Rights Information:
- Please contact Special Collections for information on copyright.
- Contributing Institution:
- University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Libraries
- Rights:
-
Lesson from Little Rock
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