Little Rock High School, in all its grand Gothic Revival style, was built in 1927.  At the time, Little Rock was a rival to Atlanta to be the most important city in the south, and they wanted to attract white families there.  By 1957, there were four public high schools in Little Rock, two black and two white.  None had the teaching staff, sports programs and scholarly achievements of Little Rock Central High. The Little Rock School Board voted to allow what they called “gradual integration”.

We toured the school to see the stairways where these first brave nine students were tripped, the hallway where acid was thrown in their eyes, the lunchroom where no one would let them into the “white section”.  Racial mobs and national media followed their every move. Amazingly, despite the trauma, several of the Little Rock Nine went on to successful careers.  They all attended President Barack Obama’s inauguration.