Little Rock Nine

==Legacy==
[[File:Ernest Green, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Terrence Roberts (DIG13683-010).jpg|thumb|Three members of the "Little Rock Nine" (L-R) Ernest Green, Carlotta Walls LaNier, and Terrence Roberts – stand together on the steps of the LBJ Presidential Library in 2014]]
Little Rock Central High School still functions as part of the Little Rock School District and is now a National Historic Site that houses a [[Civil Rights]] Museum, administered in partnership with the [[National Park Service]], to commemorate the events of 1957.<ref>United States National Park Service, [http://www.nps.gov/chsc/ Little Rock Central High School, National Historic Site.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070109164312/http://www.nps.gov/chsc/ |date=January 9, 2007 }}</ref> The [[Daisy Bates House]], home to [[Daisy Bates (civil rights activist)|Daisy Bates]], then the president of the Arkansas NAACP and a focal point for the students, was designated a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 2001 for its role in the episode.<ref>{{cite web|url={{NHLS url|id=01000072}}|title=NHL nomination for Daisy Bates House|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=October 27, 2014}}</ref>

In 1958, Cuban poet [[Nicolás Guillén]] published "Little Rock", a bilingual composition in English and Spanish denouncing the [[racial segregation in the United States]].<ref name="GuillénMárquez2003">{{cite book|last1=Guillén|first1=Nicolás|author-link1=Nicolás Guillén|last2=Márquez|first2=Robert|last3=McMurray|first3=David Arthur|title=Man-making words: selected poems of Nicolás Guillén|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xV2zdIzadWAC&pg=PA58|access-date=September 7, 2011|date=2003|publisher=Univ of Massachusetts Press|isbn=978-1-55849-410-7|pages=58–61}}</ref>

Melba Pattillo Beals wrote a memoir titled ''Warriors Don't Cry'', published in 1994.

Two [[made-for-television]] movies have depicted the events of the crisis: the 1981 [[CBS]] movie ''[[Crisis at Central High]]'', and the 1993 [[Disney Channel]] movie ''[[The Ernest Green Story]]''.

In 1996, seven of the Little Rock Nine appeared on ''[[The Oprah Winfrey Show]]''. They came face to face with a few of the white students who had tormented them as well as one student who had befriended them.

In 1997, Central High Museum, Inc. held a dedication ceremony in observation of the 40th anniversary of the desegregation. With restoration help from the Mobil Foundation, they opened the first visitor center near the High School that September, in a former [[Mobil]] gas station. African-American artist [[George Hunt (artist)|George Hunt]] was hired to produce a painting of the Little Rock Nine for the event.<ref name="NPS_LRCHS">{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/places/magnolia-mobil-gas-station.htm |title=Magnolia Mobil Gas Station|website=[[National Park Service]]|date=May 19, 2021|access-date=January 31, 2023|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

In November 1998, legislation passed designating Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site as a unit of the National Park Service, and Central High Museum, Inc., donated their property to the park service. While the NPS visitor center was under construction, Hunt's painting, titled "America Cares", hung in the White House.<ref name="NPS_LRCHS" /><ref name="USPS">{{cite web|url=https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2005/html/pb22158/kitt6.html|title=To Form A More Perfect Union Commemorative Stamps Publicity Kit|website=[[United States Postal Service|USPS]]|date=July 1, 2005|access-date=January 31, 2023|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
 
In February 1999, members created the Little Rock Nine Foundation<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://littlerock9.com/history.html|title=History|website=Little Rock Nine Foundation|access-date=2018-07-28}}</ref> which established a scholarship program which had funded, by 2013, 60 university students.<ref name="PIF">{{Cite news|url=https://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2013/09/12/the-little-rock-nine-paying-it-forward|title=The Little Rock Nine: Paying it forward|last=Brantley|first=Max|work=Arkansas Times|access-date=2018-07-28|language=en}}</ref> In 2013, the foundation decided to exclusively fund students attending the [[Clinton School of Public Service]] at the [[University of Arkansas]].<ref name="PIF" />

[[File:ArkLRNine - 31409(90).JPG|thumb|left|Memorial at [[Arkansas State Capitol]]]]
President [[Bill Clinton]] honored the Little Rock Nine in November 1999 when he presented them each with a [[Congressional Gold Medal]]. The medal is the highest civilian award bestowed by [[United States Congress|Congress]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1066420|title=Little Rock Nine|website=[[NPR]]|date=November 9, 1999|access-date=August 28, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402175756/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1066420|archive-date=April 2, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref> It is given to those who have provided outstanding service to the country. To receive the Congressional Gold Medal, recipients must be co-sponsored by two-thirds of both the [[United States House of Representatives|House]] and [[United States Senate|Senate]].

In 2004, art director Ethel Kessler selected George Hunt's Little Rock Nine/America Cares painting for a 37-cent U.S. [[Postage Stamp]]. It was one of 10 stamps depicting milestones of the [[Civil Rights Movement]] in a February 2005 Black History Month commemorative stamp panel, "To Form a More Perfect Union." Printed on top of the artwork on the stamp were the words, "1957 The Little Rock Nine."<ref>''The 2005 Commemorative Stamp Yearbook'', United States Postal Service, pp. 44–47, HarperCollins Publishers, New York</ref><ref name="USPS" />

In 2007, the [[United States Mint]] made available a commemorative [[Dollar (United States coin)|silver dollar]] to "recognize and pay tribute to the strength, the determination and the courage displayed by African-American high school students in the fall of 1957." The obverse depicts students accompanied by a soldier, with nine stars symbolizing the Little Rock Nine. The reverse depicts an image of Little Rock Central High School, c. 1957. Proceeds from the coin sales are to be used to improve the National Historic Site.

On December 9, 2008, the Little Rock Nine were invited to attend the inauguration of President-elect [[Barack Obama]], the first African-American to be elected President of the United States.<ref>"[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/12/AR2008121204106.html We've Completed Our Mission] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180418092906/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/12/AR2008121204106.html |date=April 18, 2018 }}". ''Washington Post'', December 13, 2009, p. B01.</ref>

On February 9, 2010, [[Marquette University]] honored the group by presenting them with the Père Marquette Discovery Award, the university's highest honor, one that had previously been given to [[Mother Teresa]], [[Archbishop Desmond Tutu]], [[Karl Rahner]], and the [[Apollo 11]] astronauts.

On November 19, 2022, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Carlotta Walls LaNier and Thelma Mothershed-Wair etched their initials onto metal plates that were then welded onto the keel of the [[attack submarine]] [[USS Arkansas (SSN-800)]] in a ceremony at [[Newport News Shipbuilding]] in [[Newport News, Virginia]]. The plates will remain affixed to the submarine throughout its life. Melba Pattillo Beals and Minnijean Brown-Trickey were also named sponsors of the ship, and all members of the Little Rock Nine were honored. Elizabeth Eckford said "(Former Navy) Secretary [[Ray Mabus]] asked us to be supporters of the ship and its crew. I signed on to be a foster grandmother...President Eisenhower sent 1,000 paratroopers to Little Rock to disperse a mob, bring order, and they made it possible for us to enter Central High School. From that point, I've had very high regard for specially trained forces."<ref name="keel laid">{{cite press release|url=https://hii.com/news/hii-virginia-class-attack-submarine-arkansas-ssn-800-keel/|title=HII Authenticates Keel Of Virginia-class Attack Submarine Arkansas (SSN 800)|publisher=Huntington Ingalls Industries|date=19 November 2022|access-date=19 November 2022}}</ref>

===Foreign affairs===
The crisis at Little Rock took place in a Cold War world. Civil rights historian [[Mary L. Dudziak]] argues that [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|President Dwight D. Eisenhower]] and the US federal government's primary concern in their response was the world's perception of the US. Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]] was particularly aware of the global impact, telling Attorney General [[Herbert Brownell Jr.|Herbert Brownell]] over a phone call that "this situation was ruining our foreign policy". Brownell asked Dulles to look over a draft of the President's speech in Arkansas following the crisis, where he suggested that Eisenhower "put in a few more sentences...emphasizing the harm done abroad".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dudziak |first1=Mary |title=The Little Rock Crisis and Foreign Affairs: Race, Resistance and the Image of American Democracy |journal=SSRN Electronic Journal |date=1997 |volume=70 |issue=6 |pages=1641–1716}}</ref>

Dudziak highlights other evidence such as [[United States Department of Justice|US Department of Justice]] briefs and [[propaganda]] to show the global implications of Little Rock. The crisis came partly as a result of the [[Brown v. Board of Education|Brown vs Board of Education case]]. US Department of Justice briefs gave only one reason for involvement in cases like this; that segregation harmed US foreign relations. The briefs argued that the existence of discrimination had an adverse effect on relations with other countries, especially countries in the [[Third World|third world]] who had been targeted by the [[Truman Doctrine]]. Evidence of US propaganda can be seen in the booklet ''The Negro in American Life'', which was translated into fifteen languages and distributed to many countries. It aimed to reverse the global shame surrounding discrimination in America, accentuated by Soviet propaganda, and instead boasted of the progress that they believed could be achieved in an American democracy.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dudziak |first1=Mary |title=Brown as a Cold War Case |journal=The Journal of American History |date=2004 |volume=91 |issue=1 |pages=34–42}}</ref>

The impact of foreign relations, foreign policy and America's global reputation played an important role in Eisenhower's response to the crisis at Little Rock. This eventually culminated in his decisions to order the intervention of the 101st Airborne Division and to federalize the National Guard.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Jean Edward |title=Eisenhower in War and Peace |date=2012 |publisher=Random House |page=723}}</ref>