Little Rock Nine

==Background==

===The Blossom Plan===
One of the plans created during attempts to desegregate the schools of Little Rock was by school superintendent [[Virgil Blossom]]. The initial approach proposed substantial integration beginning quickly and extending to all grades within a matter of many years.<ref>Tony A. Freyer, "Politics and Law in the Little Rock Crisis, 1954–1957," ''The Arkansas Historical Quarterly'', 60/2, (Summer 2007): 148</ref> This original proposal was scrapped and replaced with one that more closely met a set of minimum standards worked out in attorney Richard B. McCulloch's brief.<ref name="Freyer 149">Tony A. Freyer, "Politics and Law in the Little Rock Crisis, 1954–1957," The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, 60/2, (Summer 2007): 149</ref> This finalized plan would start in September 1957 and would integrate one high school: Little Rock Central. The second phase of the plan would take place in 1960 and would open up a few junior high schools to a few Black children. The final stage would involve limited desegregation of the city's grade schools at an unspecified time, possibly as late as 1963.<ref name="Freyer 149" />

This plan was met with varied reactions from the [[NAACP]] branch of Little Rock. Militant members like the [[Daisy Bates (activist)|Bateses]] opposed the plan on the grounds that it was "vague, indefinite, slow-moving and indicative of an intent to stall further on public integration."<ref name="Kirk">John A. Kirk, "The Little Rock Crisis and Postwar Black Activism in Arkansas," ''The Arkansas Historical Quarterly'', 60/2, (Summer 2007): 239</ref> Despite this view, the majority accepted the plan; most felt that Blossom and the school board should have the chance to prove themselves, that the plan was reasonable, and that the white community would accept it.

This view was short-lived, however. Changes were made to the plan, the most detrimental being a new transfer system that would allow students to move out of the attendance zone to which they were assigned.<ref name="Kirk" /> The altered Blossom Plan had [[Gerrymandering|gerrymandered]] school districts to guarantee a Black majority at Horace Mann High and a white majority at Hall High.<ref name="Kirk" /> This meant that, even though Black students lived closer to Central, they would be placed in Horace Mann, thus confirming the intention of the school board to limit the impact of desegregation.<ref name="Kirk" /> The altered plan gave white students the choice of not attending Horace Mann, but did not give Black students the option of attending Hall. This new Blossom Plan did not sit well with the NAACP and, after failed negotiations with the school board, the NAACP filed a lawsuit on February 8, 1956.

This lawsuit, along with a number of other factors, contributed to the Little Rock School Crisis of 1957.

===Governor's opposition===
Faubus's opposition to desegregation was likely both politically and racially motivated.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}} Although Faubus had indicated that he would consider bringing Arkansas into compliance with the high court's decision in 1956, desegregation was opposed by his own [[Dixiecrats|southern Democratic Party]], which dominated all Southern politics at the time. Faubus risked losing political support in the upcoming 1958 Democratic gubernatorial primary if he showed support for integration.<ref>{{cite news|title=Showdown over Segregation|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031600131.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=May 6, 2015|first=Juan|last=Williams|date=March 18, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126015035/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031600131.html|archive-date=January 26, 2016|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Most histories of the crisis conclude that Faubus, facing pressure as he campaigned for a third term, decided to appease racist elements in the state by calling out the National Guard to prevent the Black students from entering Central High. Former associate justice of the [[Arkansas Supreme Court]] [[James D. Johnson]] claimed to have hoaxed Governor Faubus into calling out the National Guard, supposedly to prevent a white mob from stopping the integration of [[Little Rock Central High School]]: "There wasn't any caravan. But we made Orval believe it. We said. 'They're lining up. They're coming in droves.' ... The only weapon we had was to leave the impression that the sky was going to fall." He later claimed that Faubus asked him to raise a mob to justify his actions.<ref name=notgone>{{cite news |url=http://www.salon.com/2010/02/18/justice_4/ |title=Racist "Justice" is dead, but not gone |work=Salon |date=February 18, 2010 |access-date=October 5, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006172206/http://www.salon.com/2010/02/18/justice_4/ |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

[[Harry Ashmore]], the editor of the ''Arkansas Gazette'', won a 1958 Pulitzer Prize for his editorials on the crisis. Ashmore portrayed the fight over Central High as a crisis manufactured by Faubus; in his interpretation, Faubus used the Arkansas National Guard to keep Black children out of Central High School because he was frustrated by the success his political opponents were having in using segregationist rhetoric to stir white voters.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Pulitzer Prize Winners 1958|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/awards/1958|publisher=the Pulitzer Board|access-date=September 7, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110925063344/http://www.pulitzer.org/awards/1958|archive-date=September 25, 2011|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Congressman [[Brooks Hays]], who tried to mediate between the federal government and Faubus, was later defeated by a last minute write-in candidate, [[Dale Alford]], a member of the Little Rock School Board who had the backing of Faubus's allies.<ref>{{cite book|title=Profiles in Hue|publisher=Xlibris Corporation|isbn=978-1456851200|pages=366|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OANpT_Bl1c8C&q=A+few+years+later,+despite+the+incident+with+the+%22Little+Rock+Nine%22,+Faubus+ran+as+a+moderate+segregationist+against+Dale+Alford,+who+was+challenging+Faubus+for+the+Democratic+nomination+for+governor+in+1962.&pg=PA366|access-date=May 6, 2015|date=January 17, 2011}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}} A few years later, despite the incident with the "Little Rock Nine", Faubus ran as a moderate segregationist against Dale Alford, who was challenging Faubus for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1962.
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