0:00:00.300,0:00:04.060
[Ernest Green] The local newspaper,[br]the <i>Arkansas Gazette</i>, at that time

0:00:04.060,0:00:06.980
indicated that the <i>Brown</i>[br]decision was gonna change

0:00:06.980,0:00:08.700
the face of the South forever.

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I remember those words and[br]I thought to myself, "Good,

0:00:13.610,0:00:16.860
'cause I think the face of[br]the South ought to change."

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I will not force my people to integrate

0:00:19.480,0:00:20.490
against their will.

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[Green] The governor of the state,[br]Orval Faubus,

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decided that he was gonna use Central

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as his point of resistance.

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None of us of the Nine anticipated[br]that the resistance would

0:00:33.590,0:00:35.400
be as strong as it was.

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The night before we were to go to school,

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the Governor called out the[br]Arkansas National Guard,

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unbeknownst to us.

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And when we appeared at[br]Central the first day,

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the National Guard was[br]there to bar our entrance

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and let white students go into the school.

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What it was like,

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it was rejection that I had[br]never experienced like that.

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It seemed to me that if[br]they were going to all

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of this trouble to keep me out,

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there was something bigger[br]than my simply going to class.

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Only when we got home[br]from school that day

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did we realize what an[br]ordeal, personal ordeal,

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Elizabeth had gone through, and[br]that she certainly faced more

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of the mob directly.

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I always applaud the fact[br]that she was able to keep

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both her composure and try to figure out

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how to get out of that.

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We started school on[br]the 25th of September.

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[Reporter] President[br]Eisenhower sends 500 troops

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of the 101st Airborne Division[br]of the United States Army.

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[Green] It was a terrific feeling that[br]President of the United States

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would send troops to escort us[br]into school.

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I didn't know what was[br]gonna happen after that.

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It was like going to war every day.

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You had students who tried[br]to use as much verbiage

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as they could to intimidate us.

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We had threats and comments that,

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you know, we would be killed.

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For all of us, we decided[br]that this was a year

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that we were gonna support each other.

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We were gonna try to[br]do as well as we could

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in academic work.

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Some were a lot smarter than[br]me, but I also was determined

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that this year I was gonna[br]graduate from Central.

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The principal of the[br]school told me at one point

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along the way that I didn't[br]have to come to the ceremony

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and they would mail me my diploma.

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And I thought, "Listen,

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I didn't go through all of[br]this to pass up the ceremony."

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Maybe the world thought[br]that, after Little Rock,

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everything is gonna be fixed.

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And one of the important pieces, I'm sure,

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I don't need to remind[br]anyone, that the history

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of slavery in this country,[br]it makes it very difficult

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to overcome a lot of issues on race.

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We're a long way from being perfect,

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but we certainly are not what[br]we were when I started out.

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I believe that our[br]participation at Central is one

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of those many steps that's[br]gone to change this country

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for the better.