Advised by the Arkansas NAACP, nine black students (five women, four men) transferred to Little Rock's all-white Central High (1957). It fueled a white backlash and revealed their remarkable courage.

Crisis ensued from opening day. The state National Guard blocked Central's entrance on Governor Orville Faubus's orders as a mob harassed the students. President Dwight Eisenhower urged Faubus to comply; in the meantime guardsmen withdrew and local police became students’ protectors. But Faubus was defiant and racial violence escalated. To enforce school desegregation and keep the peace, the president federalized the state Guard and ordered in the 101st Airborne Division. The division remained at Central High for more than two months; Guard units did so until the end of the year. Desegregation then stalled as the city closed its schools in 1958–59.

The “Little Rock Nine” were courageous and empowered. They drew strength from the black community, whose churches and civic and educational groups helped build Arkansas’ freedom movement. Melba Pattillo never forgot “the daily insults and abuse at school” but appreciated that “a few white students were trying to reach out to us.” Ernest Green, Central High's first black graduate (1958), considered his ordeal to be a victory, adding “I had cracked the wall” of segregation.