Arkansas governor Orval Faubus enlists the National Guard to prevent nine African American students from entering Central High School in Little Rock. On Monday, September 23, the nine black students, often called "The Little Rock Nine" set off for Central High. The Little Rock Nine entered Central High School in September of 1957 in an attempt to integrate the school after the landmark 1954 Brown v.Board of Education Supreme Court case. The Nine are l to r: Thelma Mothershed Wair, Minnije an Brown Trickey, Jefferson Thomas, Terrence Roberts, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, and Melba Pattillo Beals. The case, Brown v. The Board of Education, has become iconic for Americans because it marked the formal beginning of the end of segregation. Little Rock Nine, group of African American high-school students who challenged racial segregation in the public schools of Little Rock, Arkansas. The Little Rock Nine in front of Central High School, September 25, 1997. Photo by Will Counts.

In 1954 the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools were illegal. In 1954 the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools were illegal. The group became the center of the struggle to desegregate public schools in the United States, and their actions provoked intense national debate about civil rights. Little Rock Nine - Elizabeth Eckford - Duration: 3:56. Little Rock Nine, group of African American high-school students who challenged racial segregation in the public schools of Little Rock, Arkansas. Board of Education that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal, nine African American students—Minnijean Brown, Terrance Roberts, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Patillo, Gloria Ray, Jefferson Thomas, and Carlotta Walls—attempted to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Little Rock Nine was a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Meanwhile, the mob outside the school beat several black reporters there to cover the event. Little Rock Central High School, the only operating high school in the nation to be designated a National Historic Site, is a place important beyond its past. The Little Rock Nine bravely fought discrimination to attend an all white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas. The reporters were saved when word came that the black students