Chapter 10 Notes - Part Two

Industrial progress led to new machines like mechanized cotton pickers, to help farmers, decreasing the need for individual workers on farms.

One of the most difficult post-war changes in Arkansas and the South was the push for African American Civil Rights.

The Supreme Court decision in Brown v the Board of Education declared Jim Crow laws unconstitutional, and made the idea of “separate but equal” illegal.

With this decision, blacks now had legal access to the same buses, trains, restaurants, bathrooms, schools, etc. as their white counterparts

The most famous controversy in Arkansas regarding the decision was the push to integrate schools -- in particular Little Rock Central High

The LR School Board initially proposed a 6 year integration plan, but this was challenged in court by those who wanted immediate integration

The US government sided with those who wanted immediate integration, causing the controversy to explode even further and creating even more problems

As fears over violence at LR Central rose, Governor Orval Faubus posted members of the Arkansas National Guard around the school to deny entry to 9 students who were attempting to enroll - the Little Rock 9

The crisis in Little Rock became national news because the anger about the situation and the controversy were being felt all over the south as Jim Crow laws were being eliminated

After more than two weeks, President Eisenhower sent US Army troops to Little Rock to escort the Little Rock 9 into school and get them enrolled, and even  walk them from class to class.

Arkansas laws were passed giving the governor power to close any schools that attempted to integrate, using them to close LR schools for 1958-59

The following year, Little Rock schools would reopen due to public pressure, but it did not stop many students from losing a full year of education, the “Lost Year”

Despite the progress and national attention paid to Little Rock Central and the Little Rock 9, many Arkansas schools would not become fully integrated until 12 years later.