How nine men in black robes, one U. S. president, a flock of screaming eagles, and a handful of brave high school students in Arkansas changed America forever.
United States Supreme Court
On May 17, 1954 the United States Supreme Court ruled in the case of "Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas" that racial segregation in the public schools violated the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution which, among other things, forbids states from denying any person of "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Gov. Orval Faubus
At that time, racial segregation in the South was not only common, it was the law of the land. In September of 1957 one southern governor, Orval Faubus of Arkansas, decided that he would defy the Supreme Court ruling. When nine African American students tried to attend the all-white Little Rock Central High School the governor called up the Arkansas National Guard to surround the school and block the students from entering.
Arkansas National Guard
blocking a colored students
from entering the school
I was only ten years old at the time and just starting the fourth grade. I remember seeing the shocking images on television of the governor's troops preventing the students from going to school. I was confused. I thought American soldiers were good guys whose job was to protect us. What had these students done wrong? The answer was simple, they had done nothing wrong at all.
The President of the United States at the time was a former soldier named Dwight David Eisenhower. When he entered the armed forces as a young man, and again when he took the oath of office as President of the United States, he swore to "defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic". It was an oath he took seriously.
Dwight David Eisenhower
During World War II as Supreme Allied Commander, General Eisenhower helped defeat the forces of Nazi Germany in their attempt to subjugate Europe and North Africa. Now as President of the United States he saw Governor Faubus' act for what it was, an assault upon the Constitution of the United States and an affront to the principals of fairness and equality that our country stood for.
When Faubus refused to withdraw the Arkansas National Guard from the school President Eisenhower federalized the entire Arkansas National Guard, effectively removing it from the Governor's authority and transferring it to his. But he didn't stop there. He ordered the US Army's 101st Airborne Division to Arkansas from their base in Kentucky. The paratroopers acted swiftly and decisively.
101st Airborne Division Insignia The "Screaming Eagles"
Upon receiving orders from the President, the commander of the Division dispatched 1000 paratroopers from the 327th Infantry, 1st Airborne Battle Group to Little Rock. They wasted no time in getting there. When the sun rose over Arkansas the following morning the citizens of Little Rock woke to find paratroopers with "screaming eagle" patches on their uniforms and fixed bayonets deployed around the school. An angry crowd yelling threats and racist slurs began to move toward the soldiers. As they did so an officer ordered the soldiers to assume the "guard" position, left feet forward, bodies leaning slightly forward with the point of the bayonets aimed straight at their opponents. Then the soldiers began moving steadily towards the mob, their left feet stomping the ground loudly in unison as they advanced. It was clear to everyone that they meant business. The mob backed off.
In the meantime a small detachment of soldiers who had been dispatched to pick up the nine students arrived on the scene and escorted them through the crowd to the front doors of the school. The Arkansas sun shone down brightly on the nine teenagers as they quietly entered the building ready for their first day of class. As they did so they taught us all a lesson in courage.
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