The first day of high school can often be daunting ““ new
classes, teachers and friends. But the Little Rock Nine, some of
the first students to desegregate public schools in 1957, had more
to worry about than the average student.
“My main feeling was excitement. … I really can’t
duplicate my body, my whole body shaking,” said Minnijean
Brown Trickey, one of the nine students.
Trickey, along with Jefferson Thomas and Terence Roberts, two
others of The Little Rock Nine, spoke to around 400 people Thursday
night at the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance on Pico
Boulevard, four days before the celebration of Martin Luther King,
Jr. Day. The three were joined by Reverend James Lawson, a civil
rights activist who often teaches a course on nonviolence at
UCLA.
“It has to be said that these young nine people … were
folk of such immense character,” Lawson said.
The desegregation of public schools came three years after the
landmark supreme court decision in Brown v. The Topeka Board of
Education in 1954, when the courts ruled that separate but equal
education was unconstitutional.
In September 1957, Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas
was chosen for desegregation, but the decision created turmoil in
Arkansas among segregationists determined to keep the schools
separate.
Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus ordered the national guard to
prevent the students from entering the high school, creating
tension between the federal government and the state.
“There was nobody that could prepare us for the idea that
a governor was going to block us,” Trickey said.
The students were eventually permitted to enter the school, but
had to endure a large mob taunting them and threatening violence on
their way in.
Tony Cox, a journalist with National Public Radio, moderated the
discussion and topics ranged from the experiences of the students
at Central High School to advice and commentary on youth activism
today.
Roberts remembers feeling “unsafe” while at school,
even with guards who would walk them through the halls. “The
students were very devious,” Roberts said, remembering that
white students would push them into lockers and then run off.
Thomas remembered a physics teacher who flunked him the first
grading period, and then gave him broken equipment to perform
laboratory experiments for the rest of the year.
Laughing, Thomas said he was determined and had to do the
experiments on his own time in a different laboratory, bewildering
the physics teacher who was surprised that Thomas always got the
right answers ““ even with the broken equipment.
Shortly after the members of the Little Rock Nine discussed
their experiences in school, the discussion quickly shifted to the
lessons that can be learned from their experiences.
“We’re in a museum that talks about the Holocaust.
What have we learned? We’ve learned that a lot of things have
happened while some of us have stood by silent,” Trickey
said.
Some UCLA students listened to the discussion and said the
speech at times was motivating.
“What took place through their eyes is much different than
reading it in a book,” said second-year undeclared student
Lily Mozayeni. “It makes me want to stand up for everyone
that has different views, it gives you an open mind about
things.”