Baldwin and The Little Rock Nine

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The Little Rock Nine: Weaving the Tapestry of American History

Throughout his literature, James Baldwin discusses the issues of racial inequality within America and discusses reasons for the conflicts between races, proposing his solutions to the problems. One of the most important and recurring motifs between his works is the idea of history; the history of whites in western society and its origin in European thinking and the history of the American Negro, whose history is just as American as his white counterpart’s. The importance of these histories as being one combined “American history” is integral to the healing process between the two races. The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision is a landmark event for blacks and whites alike, and the events following three years later in Little Rock, Arkansas mark the beginning of a long journey to fulfill the promise of equal education made by the Supreme Court. The 1957 events in Little Rock quickly became the nationally covered story of the Little Rock Nine, a legacy that still lives on today despite a James Baldwin prediction made in his essay “Take Me to the Water.” Specifically, nine African-American students were given permission by the Little Rock school board to attend Central High School, one of the nation’s top 40 high schools, integrating a formally all-white campus. During the initial weeks, these students were prevented from entering the school by US military summoned by the Arkansas governor. The Little Rock case drew immediate media attention and became a nationwide symbol of the civil rights movement. The story of the Little Rock Nine embodies James Baldwin’s arguments and observations regarding necessity of education as a crucial step to achievin...

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... to Enter Topeka School.” New York Times 29 Aug. 1958: 11.

Calloway-Thomas, Carolyn, and Thurmon Garner. “Daisy Bates and the Little Rock School Crisis: Forging the Way.” Journal of Black Studies 26, 5 Special Issue: The Voices of African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement. May, 1996: 616-628. JSTOR. 10 April 2004

Figures of the Civil Rights Movement. Videocassette. Princeton, 1999.

Fine, Benjamin. “Little Rock Faces Showdown Today Over Integration.” New York Times 7 Sept. 1957: 1.

---. “Little Rock Told To Integrate Despite Militia.” New York Times 4 Sept. 1957: 1.

---. “Students Unhurt.” New York Times 24 Sept. 1957: 1.

United States. “Commission on Civil Rights. School Desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas June 1977.” Washington, D.C. June 1977.

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