During the 65th anniversary commemoration of the Little Rock Nine crisis, 40 students and a few adult sponsors from Pine Bluff High School and Dollarway High School had the opportunity to meet individual members of the Little Rock Nine.
Nine young Black students, ages 14-17, enrolled at Little Rock Central High School, which until then had been all-white in 1957. The 1956 lawsuit that led to the desegregation of Central High School was led by Pine Bluff’s own attorney Wiley Branton. It was supported by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education which had declared segregated schooling to be unconstitutional.
The group of nine students who challenged racial segregation in the public schools of Little Rock were Melba Pattillo, Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, Minnijean Brown, Terrence Roberts, Carlotta Walls, Jefferson Thomas, Gloria Ray and Thelma Mothershed. The results of these students’ bravery changed the face of education across the entire United States.
The local students said they were amazed at what this small group of nine were able to accomplish and their spirit of bravery for this cause, according to a news release. Reginald Wilson, director of STEAM education in the Pine Bluff School District, and the Ministerial Alliance took these students to Little Rock on Sept. 22 and 24 to meet and have conversations with the historic group.