Little Rock： the Turning—point in the Civil Rights Struggle

謝青+張耀莎

It has been almost 60 years since the desegregation crisis in Little Rock. Todays society is quite another thing that is hard for our predecessors of 1950s and 1960s to imagine. Without the event in Little Rock and the courage to react against the white supremacy advocates， the situation of black people would not as good as that of today. “Little Rock” was the turning-point in the struggles between segregationists and integrationists since it paved the way for outlawing discrimination based on race and color. After the desegregation crisis， though there were still many obstacles to implement integration， integrationists were more optimistic about the realization of the Supreme Courts decision on the integration of all schools in the country while many segregationists were pessimistic about the retaining of segregation.

Before the desegregation crisis in Little Rock in the fall of 1957， school desegregation seemed to be at a deadlock. Some states rejected to the course of integration， some states tried to delay desegregation， and some complied with it. Although in 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court had declared that establishing segregated schools was unconstitutional in the case of Brown v. Board of Education， the resistance of white people prevailed and great inequality existed in American society.

The “Massive Resistance” in South America developed into a political turmoil in Little Rock， Arkansas when Governor Orval Faubus ordered the National Guard to the all-white Central High School to prevent nine black students from being admitted. When the resistance became more violent， President Eisenhower dispatched the 101st Airborne Infantry to maintain order and later dispatched soldiers escorted the nine students into the Central High campus.

“Little Rock” found a way out of the stalemate of desegregation. It encouraged integrationists and was regraded as the turning-point in the civil rights struggles. The differences that it made can be listed as follows：

First， after the successful integration in the school， people were more optimistic about the future of desegregation. By 1978 or even earlier Little Rock has been totally desegregated and it has offered an excellent educational program for both black and white students. Although educators and students had to struggle against segregationists， they did a good job in maintaining the equality and quality of the public education， and in getting along with different schoolmates. A picture has been seen frequently in the campus later that students of different races take part in activities together. The desegregation in Little Rock is an accomplishment， encouraging people to fight for civil rights. Second， the maintained busing students program provided both black and white students with more chance to communicate with each other at the elementary level， which was an useful way to help young students hold the right attitude towards different races. The determination of the school board to eliminate segregation raised the public sense of the urgency to achieve equality in the society. Third， the intervention of the federal government gave integrationists more confidence. Both federal government and the Supreme Court made efforts to achieve desegregation， which could be regarded as the political and ethical trend for people to follow. Actually the intervention of the federal government helped people steadfast their determination to pursue civil rights. Fourth， Little Rock undercut segregationist effort to delay desegregation and quickened the pace of desegregation. After that， the high court declared that states could not use evasive schemes to keep school segregated. Finally， Little Rock made contributions to the enactment of Civil Rights Act of 1964， the landmark piece of civil rights legislation， outlawing discrimination based on race， color， religion， sex， or national origin.

The Civil Rights Movement was a long process aiming to bring full civil rights and equality to all Americans and it has exalted great influences on citizens of America even citizens of the world in eliminating racial segregation and racial discrimination， and in accelerating the process of social and legal acceptance of civil rights. It involved many events. “Little Rock” is one of them， helping to better the situation of the black people， making America a more tolerant country and paving the way for people to strive for other rights. Thanks to Little Rock， we have todays society.endprint