Under federal troop escort, the Little Rock Nine were escorted back
into Central High School for their first full day of classes.
Under escort from the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, nine black
students entered an all-white High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Three
weeks earlier, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus had surrounded the
school with National Guard troops to prevent its federal court-ordered
racial integration. After a tense standoff, President Dwight Eisenhower
federalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent 1,000 army troops
to Little Rock to enforce the court order.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivering a special broadcast on
the Little Rock situation.