In response to the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, the NAACP selected nine African American students to attempt to integrate the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. After the students were prevented from attending the school by the governor and mobs of segregationists, President Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne to escort the students into campus. But what was school like for students once they arrived? In this lesson, students examine five documents to learn about the experiences of one student, Minnijean Brown, in desegregating Central High School.
Image: Photograph of African American Little Rock, Arkansas, students arriving at Central High School in U.S. Army in 1957. From the Library of Congress.