5 CHAPTER ONE National Guardsmen snap to attention outside Central High School on September 3 1957 the day before classes began WALKING WITH COURAGE On the morning of September 4 1957 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford got ready for school She carefully put on a new dress She had made it herself Her mother helped her straighten and curl her hair Elizabeth wanted to look nice on the first day of school She knew this was no ordinary first day She had applied and been selected to attend Central High School in Little Rock
Hundreds gather outside Central High School to protest against integration Arkansas along with eight other African-American students Until then the schools in Little Rock were segregated The African-American school in Little Rock was not as good as the school for whites because the African-American school got less money from the city These nine students would be the first African-American students to go to Central High Many people in Little Rock and around the country were upset They did not want African-American and white students to go to the same school As Elizabeth ate breakfast a television news reporter described large crowds gathering around 6
CIVIL RIGHTS VOICES Elizabeth Eckford I turned back to the guards but their faces told me I wouldn’t get help from them Then I looked down the block and saw a bench at the bus stop I thought If I can only get there I will be safe Elizabeth Eckford became a lasting image of the fight for school integration A picture of her walking alone as she tried to enter Central High was printed around the world All of Little Rock’s high schools were closed the next year so Eckford did not graduate from Central High School She joined the US Army and earned a certificate equal to a high school degree She later earned a history degree from Central State University in Wilberforce Ohio 7 Central High Elizabeth’s mother told her to turn it off She warned Elizabeth that people might say bad things to her on her way into school She said Elizabeth should pretend not to hear them Elizabeth rode a city bus to within two blocks of Central High When she got off the bus she noticed that there were many cars and people on the street As she got closer to the school Elizabeth saw Arkansas National Guard soldiers She saw the soldiers allow white students into the
