60 Years On, A Look Back at the Little Rock Nine

[Ernest Green] The local newspaper,
the Arkansas Gazette, at that time

indicated that the Brown
decision was gonna change

the face of the South forever.

I remember those words and
I thought to myself, "Good,

'cause I think the face of
the South ought to change."

I will not force my people to integrate

against their will.

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

decided that he was gonna use Central

as his point of resistance.

None of us of the Nine anticipated
that the resistance would

be as strong as it was.

The night before we were to go to school,

the Governor called out the
Arkansas National Guard,

unbeknownst to us.

And when we appeared at
Central the first day,

the National Guard was
there to bar our entrance

and let white students go into the school.

What it was like,

it was rejection that I had
never experienced like that.

It seemed to me that if
they were going to all

of this trouble to keep me out,

there was something bigger
than my simply going to class.

Only when we got home
from school that day

did we realize what an
ordeal, personal ordeal,

Elizabeth had gone through, and
that she certainly faced more

of the mob directly.

I always applaud the fact
that she was able to keep

both her composure and try to figure out

how to get out of that.

We started school on
the 25th of September.

[Reporter] President
Eisenhower sends 500 troops

of the 101st Airborne Division
of the United States Army.

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

would send troops to escort us
into school.

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

It was like going to war every day.

You had students who tried
to use as much verbiage

as they could to intimidate us.

We had threats and comments that,

you know, we would be killed.

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

that we were gonna support each other.

We were gonna try to
do as well as we could

in academic work.

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

that this year I was gonna
graduate from Central.

The principal of the
school told me at one point

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

and they would mail me my diploma.

And I thought, "Listen,

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

Maybe the world thought
that, after Little Rock,

everything is gonna be fixed.

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

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

of slavery in this country,
it makes it very difficult

to overcome a lot of issues on race.

We're a long way from being perfect,

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

I believe that our
participation at Central is one

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

for the better.