“With Liberty and Justice for All”

Making Civil Rights Real In America

1700-1900

A Civil Rights/Civics Study
Little Rock Central High School Freshman Academy

Cynthia Mahomes

April Rike

Chuck West

George West

Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site

Lea Flowers Baker

Laura Miller

With Special Thanks to the Following:

Nancy Rousseau, Principal

Little Rock Central High School

Ninth Grade Freshman Academy

Little Rock Central High School

Jan Lee, Administrative Officer

Little Rock Central High School NHS

Mike Madell, Superintendent

Little Rock Central High School NHS

©2005
3

Contents

Introduction

5-6

Just the Basics

7

Objectives

8

Procedure

9

A Brief History of the 1957 Desegregation Crisis

at Little Rock Central High School

10-15

We the People

Lesson #1

16-17

We the People

Lesson #2

18-19

Magna Whatta?

Civil Rights Taking Roots on American Soil

Lesson #3

20-22

If These Halls Could Talk:

The Story of LR Central High School
4

Lesson #4

23-25

For Better or Worse

Which Branch of Government Has the Most Effect on Civil Rights

Lesson #5

25-26

Hall of Fame and Hall of Shame

Struggle of Ethnic Minority Groups for Equal Protection Under the Law

Lesson #6

26-30

Three Steps Forward and Two Steps Back:

The Slow Progress of Civil Rights

Lesson #7

31-32

Definitions

33-36

Sources

37
5

Introduction:

In the summer of 2004, 9th-grade instructors from the Freshman Academy at Little Rock 

Central High School – site of the 1957 desegregation crisis – joined staff from the Little 

Rock Central High School National Historic Site to create a curriculum unit that 

combined civics and the 1957 desegregation story at Little Rock Central High School. 

In the meetings, the teachers asked the following questions:

How could instructors use their historic site in the overall curriculum of civics in 

the 9th grade and introduce students to the importance of what happened in their 

own school?

Why, as a society, do we not place emphasis on the civil rights movements as an 

overall process that began in various parts of the world long before the founding 

of the American colonies and how did these precursors to the civil rights 

movements affect actions and attitudes in the United States?

How, as instructors, can we convey the message that the struggle for civil rights is 

an on-going struggle? 

Finally, how can instructors impart that civil rights has a direct impact on 

student‟s lives today and is not just something that happened in the past.

With this in mind, the curriculum that developed turned from one or two lesson plans into 

a year-long, problem-based learning project that culminates in an assignment that 

utilizes research, computer, language, and writing skills. The primary goal for the yearlong study has students gaining a knowledge and appreciation of the struggle of humans 

by revisiting our civil rights history, its tie to the founding documents of the United 

States, and important constitutional decisions of the 19th and 20th centuries that relate to 

the overall civil rights movements.

This curriculum is designed to encompass primarily 7 to 10 nonconsecutive days in a 9th-

grade civics classroom during the school year. It is not meant to be given consecutively, 

but on the teacher‟s individual class time frame, in accordance with the textbook, and 

joint projects with instructors of other subjects. It will revisit various civil rights subjects 

in civics class, reaffirm the foundations of our democracy, and have students analyze our 

collective past.
6

If you have comments or questions regarding the curriculum please contact:

Education Specialist

Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site

2120 W Daisy L Gatson Bates Drive

Little Rock, Arkansas 72202

(501) 396-3012 (phone)

(501) 396-3001 (fax)
7

Just the Basics...

Grade Level: 9 (can also be used 9-12 grade levels)

Curriculum Subject: Civics/Government and Social Studies

Format: Problem-Based Learning

General Materials Needed:

“With Liberty and Justice for All:” Making Civil Rights Real in America

teacher instructor binder and CD-ROM (contains supplementary materials for use 

in the classroom).

Civics textbook.

Student journal.

Wall space in the classroom large enough to document the project throughout the 

year.

Three-ring binder supplied by the student (2” suggested).

Package of tabbed dividers supplied by the student.

Package of floppy disks or CD ROMs provided by student or school.

Access to computer lab for several class periods.

Internet access.

Access to research materials (i.e., library or archives).

Butcher paper, glue, scissors, markers, “parchment paper.”
8

Objectives:

The first objective of this curriculum is to use the story of the desegregation crisis at 

Little Rock Central High School in September of 1957 as a focus of a year-long civil 

rights study in 9

th

-grade civics classes. The unit is built around the following essential 

questions:

When - and how - have different groups of 

Americans found ways to “fix” their civil rights 

issues when a promise or pledge has been broken? 

Also, when and how would you try to help in a civil 

rights struggle for another group of Americans

whose rights also mattered to you?

The second objective of this lesson is to connect the events of Little Rock Central High 

School between 1957 and 1959 to the larger, on-going struggle for civil rights by 

different groups of Americans over time by using the following:

Instructors will illustrate to students the attempts by Americans to define civil 

rights in written documents. They will also discuss how Americans have tried to 

protect civil rights through the rule of law. 

Students will analyze historical documents in terms of how civil rights are 

protected. 

Students will investigate historical events in America (and Europe) and how these 

events have been used as tools for civil rights changes.

The project will culminate in a documentary research project where students will 

interview older adults in their own family or community about their personal 

experiences related to changing race relations or other civil rights issues.

With the assistance of the EAST Lab/computer labs at schools, students will turn their 

projects into web pages for their own Civil Rights Memory Project. New interviews 

and research by each entering freshman class will be added to make this an on-going civil 

rights project.
9

Procedure:

Each day begins with a short but important list of guiding questions. These will lead 

students to uncover the key details and ideas in the historical documents or events that are 

discussed that day. The essential question is the largest – and most personal – of the 

questions. It requires each student to understand not just the facts, but the larger concept 

that makes this topic important enough for the student to care about. The essential 

question also forces each student to decide how he or she could use the knowledge gained 

and what he or she might do in the future. 

Specific benchmarks for the civics and social studies have been supplied for each lesson. 

You will need to tie them to your individual school district. A set of guiding questions 

has been supplied for you and each lesson includes two-days of activities. One day will 

include classroom work (critical thinking skills) and one day will be for research/study in 

the computer lab (on-line research skills and strategies).
10

A Brief History of the 1957 Desegregation Crisis

at Little Rock Central High School

Little Rock Central High School, the symbol of the end of racially segregated public 

schools in the United States, was the site of the first important test for the implementation 

of the United States Supreme Court‟s historic Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

** decision of May 17, 1954. This decision declared that segregation in public 

education was an unconstitutional violation of the “equal protection of the laws” clause 

in the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Events in the fall of 1957 drew international attention as Little Rock became the epitome 

of state resistance when Arkansas Governor Orval E. Faubus directly questioned the 

sanctity of the federal court system and the authority of the Supreme Court‟s 

desegregation ruling by calling out the National Guard to prevent nine African-American 

high school students from entering Little Rock Central High School.

The controversy in Little Rock was the first fundamental test of the United States‟ resolve 

to enforce African-American civil rights in the face of massive southern defiance during 

the period following the Brown decisions. When President Dwight D. Eisenhower was 

compelled by white mob violence to use federal troops to ensure the rights of AfricanAmerican children to attend the previously all-white Little Rock Central High School, he 

became the first president since the post-Civil War Reconstruction period to use federal 

troops in support of African-American civil rights. As a result, the eyes of the world 

were focused on Little Rock in 1957 and the struggle became a symbol of southern racist 

reaction, as Governor Faubus created a constitutional crisis.

On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public 

schools was unconstitutional. In August of 1954, the National Association for the 

Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) petitioned the Little Rock School Board

for immediate integration of the schools. In response, the school board stated that “until 

the „Supreme Court of the United States makes its decision...more specific, [the] Little 

Rock School District will continue with its present program.” With this statement, the 

school board members ensured that they would not desegregate the schools of the city 

quickly. The NAACP (led by lawyer Wiley Branton) petitioned the school board “to take 

immediate steps to reorganize the public schools under your jurisdiction in accordance 

with the constitutional principles enunciated by the Supreme Court.”
11

In 1955, responding to further Supreme Court rulings and re-argument of the Brown v. 

Board case, known as Brown II, the Little Rock School Board adopted a plan of gradual 

integration called the Blossom Plan (named for the Little Rock School District 

superintendent, Virgil T. Blossom). It called for desegregation to begin at the high 

school level in September of 1957. Lower grades would be gradually integrated over the 

following six years. 

While the local, state, and federal governments were trying to figure out ways to 

desegregate schools, a group of segregationists formed and called themselves the Capital 

Citizens Council. Their goal was to keep the schools of Little Rock segregated. 

Another group, headed by several women, formed the Mother’s League of Central 

High School to oppose desegregation. 

The first test came in 1956, when 27 African-American students attempted to register in 

white Little Rock schools, but were turned down. Instead, they were told to attend school 

in the newly opened Horace Mann High School for black students housed in the former 

Dunbar High School building because construction was not yet completed. 

Superintendent Blossom assured the students‟ parents that he wanted to be “kind” to 

these students, but one NAACP representative said that the superintendent‟s actions were 

“more like the old run-around deception, than an honest and conscientious plan of the 

school board to integrate the schools.” Next, the NAACP filed a lawsuit on behalf of the 

African American students who were denied admittance to white Little Rock schools in 

1956. In Aaron v. Cooper, the NAACP stated that their objective in filing the suit “was 

to secure the prompt and orderly end of segregation in the public schools. We want all 

children, regardless of race, to have the opportunity to go to the public schools nearest 

their homes.” The suit was dismissed and a federal judge declared that the Little Rock 

school board acted in “good faith” but the judge retained jurisdiction over the case.

As desegregation of Little Rock schools grew closer, the Arkansas State Legislature

approved four “segregation bills” in early 1957. These bills created the State 

Sovereignty Committee (House Bill 322) to investigate those encouraging integration, 

removed the mandatory school attendance requirement at all integrated schools (HB 323), 

required the registration of certain individuals and organizations such as the NAACP (HB 

324), and authorized school boards to use school funds to fight integration (HB 325). In 

addition, the legislature also placed a three percent sales tax on the election ballot to 

ensure that more money would be spent toward fighting desegregation.
12

The Capital Citizens Council issued a statement in mid-1957 that supported segregation: 

“The Negroes have ample and fine schools here and there is no need for this problem 

except to satisfy the aims of a few white and Negro revolutionaries in the local Urban 

League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.”

Other members of the Capital Citizens Council gathered in the summer of 1957 to plan 

their fight against desegregation. They ran advertisements in newspapers that included 

the following questions: “At social functions would black males and white females dance 

together? Would black students join clubs and travel with whites? Would black and 

white students use the same rest rooms?” 

In the midst of growing turmoil in August 1957, the governor of Georgia came to 

Arkansas and held a state-wide meeting to oppose desegregation. He praised the 

Arkansans who were fighting for their belief in the right of the state to oppose the federal 

government (also called state’s rights). He also met with the Capital Citizens Council 

and Governor Faubus to show his support for their efforts.

On the morning of September 2, 1957, Governor Faubus ordered the Arkansas National 

Guard to prevent the African American students from entering Little Rock Central High 

School. In a televised speech, he proclaimed that it was to prevent violence and protect 

the students. The nine students were told by the Little Rock school board members to 

stay away from school for their own safety because the governor had heard a rumor that 

white supremacists were headed toward Little Rock. 

On September 3, 1957, the Mother‟s League held a sunrise service at Little Rock Central 

High School. It was attended by members of the Capital Citizens Council, angry parents 

of white students, and local religious figures. The crowd sang “Dixie,” flew the 

Confederate battle flag, and praised Governor Faubus. Despite the protest, federal Judge 

Richard Davies issued his ruling that desegregation would continue the next day. In 

response, Governor Faubus ordered the National Guard to stay at the school.

The nine black students attempted to enter Little Rock Central High School and were 

turned away by the National Guard on September 4. Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, 

and Terrence Roberts arrived at the school without their parents. Eckford found herself 

surrounded by an angry mob. She sat alone at on a bus stop bench and waited to go to 

her mother‟s work. Later, Eckford remembered, “I tried to see a friendly face somewhere 

in the mob – someone who maybe would help. I looked into the face of an old woman 

and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked at her again, she spat on me.” At least one 

sympathetic member of the crowd, Dr. Benjamin Fine, a white reporter from New York,

sat down beside her and said, “Don‟t let them see you cry.” The following day, none of 

the nine students attempted to re-enter the school and the Little Rock School Board 

requested that desegregation be temporarily halted.

In the following days, Governor Faubus appeared on national television to reaffirm his 

support of segregation. He also met with President Eisenhower and “assured the 

President of my desire to cooperate with him in carrying out the duties resting upon both 
13

of us under the Federal Constitution.” Meanwhile, Judge Davies began legal proceedings 

against the governor and several National Guardsmen for interfering with integration. 

Under federal court order, Governor Faubus removed the troops, left the state for a 

governor‟s conference, and the city police had to try and keep order at the school.

Finally, on September 23, the nine African-American students (after facing a crowd of 

over 1,000 white protestors), entered Little Rock Central High School. An anonymous 

man commented, “They‟ve gone in...Oh, God, [they] are in the school.” Melba Pattillo 

Beals, one of the nine, remembered the moment, “I had long dreamed of entering Central 

High. I could not have imagined what that privilege could cost me.”

White students had mixed reactions to the nine African-American students. Several 

jumped out of windows to avoid contact with the students. Others, like Robin Woods, 

said, “That was the first time I‟d ever gone to school with a Negro, and it didn‟t hurt a 

bit.” 

Outside of the school, black journalists who covered the story were harassed and 

physically attacked. President Eisenhower was “disgusted” when he heard about the 

rioting and ordered in federal troops to contain the chaos. Over 1,000 members of the 

U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division (“Screaming Eagles”) from Fort Campbell, 

Kentucky, came to Little Rock. The Arkansas National Guard troops at the school were 

then placed under federal command. Observing the soldiers, activist and mentor to the 

nine students, Daisy Gatson Bates commented that “any time it takes eleven thousand 

five hundred soldiers to assure nine Negro children their constitutional rights in a 

democratic society, I can‟t be happy.”

On September 25, the nine students were escorted back into Central High School after 

General Edwin Walker of the United States Army addressed the white students of Little 

Rock Central High School in the auditorium, “You have nothing to fear from my soldiers, 

and no one will interfere with your coming, going, or your peaceful pursuit of your 

studies.” When they arrived, the student body reaction was once again mixed. One 

student commented that “if parents would just go home and let us alone, we‟ll be all 

right...we just want them to leave us be. We can do it.” 

Governor Faubus, meanwhile, took a siege mentality to “forced integration” at Little 

Rock Central High School and said, “We are now an occupied territory. Evidence of the 

naked force of the federal government is here apparent, in these, unsheathed bayonets in 

the backs of schoolgirls.” After less than a month at the school, most members of the 

101st Airborne left Arkansas and turned their duties over to the Arkansas National Guard, 

which was now federalized. Discipline problems resurfaced at the school after the U.S. 

Army troops left and school and National Guard records indicate that incidents of 

harassment of the nine students escalated. Local business leaders, who had called for 

peaceful compliance with court orders for school integration, were met with resistance. 

For instance, the Mother‟s League sought through the court system to have the federal

troops removed from Central High School on the grounds that it violated federal and state 

constitutions (the action was dismissed) and Governor Faubus issued statements 

expressing his desire that the nine students be removed from the school. Religious 
14

congregations of all faiths gathered to pray for a peaceful end to the conflict and the 

NAACP fought the validity of the Sovereignty Commission and the forced registration of 

certain membership lists and organizations. One of those fined for not registering as a 

member of the NAACP was Daisy Bates, who was fined $100 for not complying with the 

State Sovereignty Commission regulations.

Throughout the school year, incidents of violence against the nine students grew. Verbal 

arguments and physical violence was common. The school received five bomb threats in

a seven-day period in January 1958. That month, Minnijean Brown, one of the nine 

students, had chili dumped on her shoulders by a boy in the lunchroom. A month later, 

Brown called one of her tormenters “white trash” and was attacked by several bystanders. 

She said of the argument, “I just can‟t take everything they throw at me without fighting 

back...” Brown was expelled - along with several other white students who had cards 

that read, “One down...eight to go” (these cards were distributed to the school students). 

After these incidents, Minnijean Brown left the school and moved to New York. The 

violence was not limited to the nine students--a white boy who talked with Ernest Green 

was verbally threatened and his car was vandalized. 

The crisis at the school spilled over into the city of Little Rock. Segregationists 

threatened to boycott businesses that advertised in the Arkansas Gazette (which they 

viewed as being pro-integration). A new African-American organization, the Greater 

Little Rock Improvement League formed to end the crisis without pursuing litigation 

(counter to the actions of the NAACP). Meanwhile, the Capital Citizens Council and 

other segregationists continued to file legal action against integration of the city‟s 

schools. Local businessmen proposed alternate plans for desegregation which were 

supported by both the Arkansas Gazette and the Arkansas Democrat, but opposed by the 

NAACP, the Capital Citizens Council, and the Mother‟s League (Governor Faubus 

remained non-committal), and Harry Ashmore, a journalist/editorialist for the Arkansas 

Gazette, received a Pulitzer Prize for his objectivity in covering the Little Rock Central 

High School Crisis.

By the time the first African-American student graduated from Little Rock Central High 

School in the spring of 1958, events had not calmed down. The only senior among the 

nine students, Ernest Green, received his diploma while police and federal troops stood in 

attendance. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., attended the graduation ceremony virtually 

unnoticed. Green later commented, “It‟s been an interesting year. I‟ve had a course in 

human relations first hand.”
15

We the People

Lesson #1

Tie-in to Textbook: In general, use the chapter dealing with “who are citizens.” For 

those using the textbook, American Civics, use Chapter 1: We the People.

Objectives for Lesson #1:

Students will form questions for themselves.

Students will recognize that the struggle for civil rights and American democracy 

is NOT a finished chapter in American history. In other words, it did not begin or 

end in the 1950s and 1960s.

Students will understand that Americans have tried to resolve civil rights issus in 

a variety of different ways.

Students will relate civil rights issues of the past to their own present-day lives.

Materials Needed for Lesson #1:

Civics textbook

2” binder (student provided)

Tabbed dividers (student provided)

Tabs (CD ROM)

Teenagers Bill of Rights handout (CD ROM)

Guiding Questions for Lesson #1:

Define what is/are civil rights.

Identify when the struggle for civil rights began. Speculate on when the struggle 

for civil rights ended - or has it?

Reflect on how citizens bring about change in the struggle for civil rights.

Activities for Lesson #1: 

1) Assign appropriate reading in the textbook about the importance of civics in our daily 

lives and who are considered U.S. citizens. Discuss in class (this may be done several 

days leading up to this activity).
16

2) In order for students to begin to connect with the concept of civil rights, conduct this 

exercise on civil rights in their family or social unit:

Break students into groups:

o Identify several civil rights issues that you have identified in your family 

or social unit.

o List some of the “fair” or “unfair” civil rights practices in your family or 

social unit (or what the students considers “fair” or “unfair”).

o Make a list of the “fair” or “unfair” civil rights in their group that the 

students would like to change.

Students should then list five (5) to ten (10) of the civil rights discussed in their groups 

and draw up a “Teenagers Bill of Rights” (CD-ROM) and place in student notebook 

under the divider “Student Class Assignments” (CD-ROM).

Read aloud the lists for each group. Identify the common civil rights among the groups 

and consolidate the list. In the computer lab, have students create their own Teenagers 

Bill of Rights using their own ideas for text, graphics, etc. This will be printed out and 

placed in the area of the classroom that is devoted to this curriculum. Keep a copy in 

their “Student Class Assignments.”

3) Propose the following guiding questions for Lesson #1 to the classroom. Have 

students write down their own observations from these questions on civil rights and place

in their notebook under the divider, “My Thoughts” (CD-ROM). You will use this 

exercise two more times – once in the middle of the curriculum and again at the end -

using the same questions. 

Allow students a few minutes to answer the questions and reflect on their writings. These 

paragraphs will be used to evaluate writing and analytical thinking skills, as well as 

allowing the student to see how their personal view may have changed over the course of 

the school year.

 

Note to Teachers: Not all civil rights will be popular with students. The teacher can note the differences 

of opinion among students, how arguments are settled, the process students should follow in the classroom 

when they disagree, etc.
17

We the People

Lesson #2

Tie-in to Textbook: In general, use the chapter dealing with “who are citizens.” For 

those using the textbook, American Civics, use Chapter 1: We the People.

Objectives for Lesson #2:

Students will form questions for themselves.

Students will recognize that the struggle for civil rights and American democracy 

is NOT a finished chapter in American history – it did not begin or end in the 

1950s and 1960s.

Students will understand that Americans have tried to resolve civil rights issues in 

a variety of different ways.

Students will relate civil rights issues of the past to their own present-day lives.

Students will use computer search skills.

Materials Needed for Lesson #2:

Civics textbook

Student journal

2” binder (student provide)

Tabbed dividers (student provide)

Tabs (CD ROM)

Floppy disk or CD ROM (student provide)

Activities for Lesson #2:

1) Brainstorm a list of civil rights issues that impact the world in the 21st century –and 

students in particular. Have students write down this list, place in notebook under 

“Student Class Assignments” (CD ROM). Take this list to the computer lab or use in the 

classroom.

Teacher Hint: According to several civil rights groups, these are identified as civil 

rights issues among teenagers: 

Juvenile Justice Sentencing/Prisons Victim’s Rights

Racial Bias Disability Issues

Drug Issues/Testing Free Speech HIV/AIDS Immigrant 

Rights Lesbian/Gay Rights National Security Religious Liberties

Censorship Flag Desecration Right to Protest

Student Speech

Internet Censorship Minority Voter Rights

Affirmative Action Reproduction Rights

Dress Code (students) Drug Test in Schools

Zero Tolerance Policies Off-Campus Conduct
18

Privacy in School Religion in School

Marriage/Dating Issues Driving Regulations Alcohol Purchase

Teen Curfews Movie Ratings School Attendance

Smoking Teen Employment

Family Emancipation Voting Civic Participation

Students can choose two or three civil rights concepts from the compiled list. Then, 

utilizing a computer with Internet access or the library, document the status of these 

issues in order to be graded. Students using computers will utilize two search engines 

(Google, etc.) by comparing search results. The instructor needs to review Boolean logic 

(quotes, in combos, etc.). Have each student make a quick list of websites, learn to save 

in folder, on floppy disk or CD ROM, and print a hard copy.

You may use the following computer keywords to prompt the students:

American Civil Liberties Union

Civil Rights

Juvenile Civil Rights

Legal Trek

Southern Poverty Law Center

Arkansas Civil Rights

 

An alternate to writing and computer work is using art to illustrate the status of civil rights concepts. For 

extra points, students can expand the project by identifying the status of the civil rights concepts listed 

above and how they existed/exist in Arkansas. Write or illustrate the concepts for grading.
19

Magna Whatta?

Civil Rights Taking Roots on American Soil

Lesson #3

Tie-in to Textbook: In general, use the chapter dealing with the foundations of 

democracy. In the textbook, American Civics, use Chapter 2: Foundations of 

Government.

Objectives for Lesson #3:

Students will practice developing and using questions.

Students will comprehend certain points about civil rights taking hold in early 

American history.

Students will read and comprehend historical documents.

Introduction to the idea that the first step in guaranteeing civil rights for 

Americans is to make them part of the written rule of law.

Materials Needed for Lesson #3:

Civics textbook

Student journal

2” binder (student provided)

Tabbed dividers (student provided)

Tabs (CD ROM)

Who’s Heard handout (CD ROM)

Document Comparison handout (CD ROM)

Living Documents Scavenger Hunt handout (CD ROM)

Magna Carta handout (CD ROM)

English Bill of Rights handout (CD ROM)

U.S. Bill of Rights handout (CD ROM)

Declaration of Independence handout (CD ROM)

Historic Photographs handout (CD ROM)

APPARTS handout (CD ROM)

 

Note to Teachers: In the previous lesson, students identified how civil rights impact Americans. They 

also realized that it is an on-going process that impacts them and their families. This lesson examines the 

origins of the civil rights movement and the impact that civil rights in world history had on our founding 

documents. Students will also identify where civil rights are specifically written into our founding 

documents that guide this nation.
20

Guiding Questions for Lesson #3:

Where did American colonists get the idea for the origins of the republic?

What are the founding documents that protect the rights of Americans? What 

rights do they protect? 

What type of people were involved in forming the new government? 

Whose voice(s) are/is not heard in the development of the early republic?

In the 18th century, identify who was protecting the status quo and who is pushing 

for civil rights change?

Where did Americans get the idea that they deserve rights? Where does it say so?

Bell-Ringer:

1) Try to translate a sentence of one of the documents (teacher handout). Write down in 

the student journal what it says, then write out how someone today could say the same 

idea (ex: “We hold these truths to be self-evident.”)

2) Using the Declaration of Independence, find a quote that sounds like the famous 

complaint in American history, “No Taxation Without Representation?”

Activities for Lesson #3: 

1) Assign students reading in the civics textbook associated with why Americans have 

government and the origins of government developed in the United States. Make sure 

these readings include the mention of European documents that heavily influenced 

Americans (Magna Carta, English Bill of Rights). Then, ask students the following 

guiding questions for this lesson using the Document Comparison handout (CD-ROM).

Have students place this handout in their “Student Class Assignment.”

2) Read and examine the Magna Carta (CD-ROM) and the English Bill of Rights (CDROM). The instructor can make an overhead from these documents and teacher can 

provide a summary of both documents using the document comparison handout provided

on CD ROM. Give each student a copy of the document comparison handout and the 

documents that they will read and fill out and place in “Student Class Assignments.”

Using the U.S. Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence (CD-ROM), locate 

where all four documents overlap each other and add this to the comparison table. 

Students may research and answer the questions following the table for grading (answers 

can be found on the Library of Congress and National Archives and Records 

Administration web sites). Students should also place copies of the historical documents 

under the divider, “Historical Documents.” All assignments should be placed under

“Student Class Assignments” for grading by the instructor.

3) Students learn how to analyze documents using the APPARTS handout (CD ROM). 

In teams, students analyze the four major documents that helped to establish our civil 

rights. Students reproduce the documents on “parchment” (purchased from an art supply 
21

store) using their own words, but including quotes from the original documents for the 

most important concepts. 

4) Students work in pairs to identify key phrases in the Declaration of Independence 

related to civil rights found in the earlier English Bill of Rights (1689). Students will use 

their notes to write a compare/contrast essay. 

5) Do the ideas of civil rights in the U.S. Bill of Rights (1788) seem to be influenced by 

the ideas in the earlier Declaration of Independence (1776)? Where could the ideas in the 

Declaration of Independence have come from (reinforcement)?
22

“If These Halls Could Talk:” The Story of Little Rock Central High School

Lesson #4

Tie-in to Textbook: Chapter dealing with “who are citizens.” For those using the 

textbook, American Civics, use Chapter 1: We the People.

General Objectives for Lesson #4:

Students will form questions for themselves.

Students will recognize that the struggle for civil rights and American democracy 

is NOT a finished chapter in American history. In other words, it did not begin or 

end in the 1950s and 1960s.

Students will understand that Americans have tried to resolve civil rights issues in 

a variety of different ways.

Students will relate civil rights issues of the past to their own present-day lives.

Lesson #4 introduces the following concepts to students:

The 1957 desegregation crisis at Little Rock Central High School was a turning 

point in civil rights history

The study of oral history is an important source for learning about the past.

The past is still part of the present.

Materials Needed for this Lesson:

Student journal (student provides)

Historic photographs of the Little Rock Nine (CD ROM)

The Ernest Green Story

Ernest Green Story Quiz handout (CD ROM)

Guiding Questions -Read these questions to the students prior to the beginning of class 

to allow them to think about:

Who gave the nine African American students the right to come to Little Rock 

Central High School? 

What happened when the students entered the high school?

Why do people remember this story? 

What do people still remember about the desegregation crisis? 
23

Bell-ringer -Writing in your journal for five minutes at the beginning of class, answer the 

following questions:

Why are you attending Little Rock Central High School (alternate: Why are you 

attending your high school?)

Do you know anybody else who has been a student at this high school (who and 

when)?

Who gave you the right to come to school here...who said you could be at this 

school?

Activity: Students will study historic photographs supplied by the instructor to generate 

“interview questions” for Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock Nine, before viewing The 

Ernest Green Story about his experiences at the high school in 1957. Conduct one of the 

following:

After viewing the film, students will answer the Ernest Green Quiz (CD ROM) to 

demonstrate his/her knowledge of what they have seen. 

Construct a wall display of questions for further study about the Central High 

story that will be used throughout the school year. 

Students write and answer guiding questions given at the beginning of the lesson 

(alternate: use this as homework).

The Ernest Green Story can be obtained at:

Disney Edu-Station (Disney Educational Products) at 

http://www.dep.disney/educational/store. Query “The Ernest Green Story.” It is 

available in both VHS and DVD. In Arkansas, The Ernest Green Story can be obtained 

through the regional Arkansas Educational Service Cooperatives or on loan from the 

Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site by calling (501) 374-1957 on a 

two-week reservation basis. The teacher will be responsible for return postage.
24

For Better or For Worse:

Which Branch of Government has the Most Effect on Civil Rights?

Lesson #5

Tie-in to Textbook: For all teachers, use the chapters in the textbook on the Executive 

Branches of government.

General Objectives for Lesson #5:

Students will form questions for themselves.

Students will recognize that the struggle for civil rights and American democracy 

is NOT a finished chapter in American history. In other words, it did not begin or 

end in the 1950s and 1960s.

Students will understand that Americans and the U.S. government have tried to 

resolve civil rights issues in a variety of different ways.

Students will relate civil rights issues of the past to their own present-day lives.

Lesson #5 introduces the following concepts to students:

Government has a large influence on helping or hindering the civil rights efforts 

in America.

Materials Needed for this Lesson:

Student journal (student provides)

Guiding Question:

Which branch of government has the most power to affect civil rights – for better 

or for worse?

Bell-Ringer: Read a list of ten (10) government acts and put a positive (+) or negative (-) 

symbol in front of the positive and negative acts that have affected American society.
25

Activities for Lesson #5:

1) Using archival or electronic sources, have students find sources of presidential actions 

(Executive Orders), federal and state laws (Acts), and Supreme Court decisions (Blank v. 

Blank). Create a six-slide Power Point showing the positive and negative examples of 

each branch of government‟s affect to their question. Students will need to make an oral 

presentation in class with the Power Point.

2) Using the above information gathered, create an outline and write a short 

compare/contrast essay using a rubric. 

3) For closure, answer the Guiding Questions.
26

Hall of Fame and Hall of Shame:

Struggles of Ethnic Minority Groups for Equal Protection 

Under the Law

Lesson #6

Tie-in to Textbook: In general, use the chapter dealing with the foundations of 

democracy. In the textbook, American Civics, use Chapter 4: Rights and 

Responsibilities.

General Objectives for Lesson #6:

Students will form questions for themselves.

Students will recognize that the struggle for civil rights and American democracy 

is NOT a finished chapter in American history. In other words, it did not begin or 

end in the 1950s and 1960s.

Students will understand that Americans have tried to resolve civil rights issues in 

a variety of different ways.

Students will relate civil rights issues of the past to their own present-day lives.

Introduction to key events in American history when civil rights promised in the 

U.S. Constitution were denied to a particular racial/ethnic/gender group.

Students will identify a variety of ethnicities and minorities have lived in the U.S.

Students will understand that ethnicities, minorities, and women in the U.S. have 

not received equal rights treatment throughout history.

Students will illustrate the need for Americans to constantly watch for abuse of 

civil rights against any one group.

Process for Lesson #6: In the previous lessons, students identified how European 

documents influenced the American Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. 

Students also received reinforcement that the civil rights movement was a struggle that 

began in Europe before spreading to North America, and not a 20thcentury phenomenon. 

Students also contemplated the importance of the Declaration of Independence in its early 

and final drafts in relation to civil rights. In this lesson, students will review the 

appropriate civics text related to who are U.S. citizens and the rights and responsibilities 

of citizens in obtaining civil rights.
27

Lesson #6 introduces the following concepts to students:

Students will identify a variety of ethnicities, minorities, and women that have 

lived in the United States.

Students will understand that ethnicities and minorities in the U.S. have not 

received equal civil rights treatment throughout history.

Government has a large influence on helping or hindering the civil rights efforts 

in America.

Students will identify individuals and groups who fought to win, win back, or 

protect the rights being denied other Americans.

The past is still part of the present. 

Materials Needed for this Lesson:

Civics textbook

Student journal (student provide)

Timeline software (teacher/computer lab provide; Excel program)

Butcher paper (teacher provides)

Scissors (teacher provides)

Glue (teacher provides)

Heroes of Democracy pictures (CD ROM)

Hall of Fame/Shame Handout (CD ROM)

Guiding Questions:

Define what is/are civil rights.

Identify when the struggle for civil rights began. Speculate on when the struggle 

for civil rights ended - or has it?

Reflect on how citizens bring about change in the struggle for civil rights.

Activities for Lesson #6:

1) Brainstorm a list of various ethnic groups and minorities. Begin with early immigrant 

groups and add more recent ethnic immigrants to the United States. Add other minority 

groups either recognized by the law or seeking to be (e.g.: American Indians). List these 

groups on a poster board, then go the lesson from the University of Arkansas at Little 

Rock Life Interrupted project at www.lifeinterrupted.org.
28

2) Recalling the guiding questions, have students search for names of individuals or 

groups who have spoken out or taken actions to stop violations of civil rights against 

particular ethnic or minority groups:

Summarize the efforts that these groups have made to prevent, end, or reverse the 

acts learned in the Japanese-American lesson. Call them the “Hall of Fame.”

Using computer skills, print a framed image, create a caption and “Hall of Fame”

nomination form (CD ROM) for the person summarized, and cite the source.

After gathering images, create a timeline for the classroom wall using butcher 

paper. Mount the pictures, photos, or other illustration of “Hall of Fame”

nominees in chronological order.

A list of census records and groups can be found at several sources:

http://www.census.gov (this site will take you into an Arkansas statistical room run by 

the University of Arkansas at Little Rock)

http://nkasd.wiu.k12.pa.us/VHS/discnationimmig.html (brief history of immigrant groups 

in the United States - helpful)

http://library.uchastings.edu/library/Legal%20Research/Class%20Pages/legal-history.htm

(immigrant history at Hastings University

3) Have students list a variety of ethnicities and minorities that have lived in the U.S. 

They now have an understanding that many of these ethnicities and minorities were 

discriminated against in U.S. history and when they became recognized by the law (or in 

some cases, haven‟t). 

4) Recalling the guiding questions, have students search for names of individuals or 

groups who spoke out or took actions to stop violations of civil rights against a particular 

ethnicity or minority group:

Summarize the efforts that they made to prevent, end, or reverse governmental 

acts. Call them the “Hall of Fame.”

Using computer skills, print a framed image, create a caption and “Hall of Fame”

nomination handout (CD-ROM) for the person summarized and cite the source. 

After gathering images, create a timeline for the classroom wall using butcher 

paper. Mount the pictures, photos, or other illustration of “Hall of Fame”

nominees in chronological order.

5)Students will work in groups to create a timeline wall display using the Excel program. 

This display will include photos, letters, and other documents related to the individuals or 

groups who have tried to prevent the abuse of civil rights in America. Follow-up by 

 

Alternative activity: In study pairs, chose one person from the Japanese-American “Hall of Shame” lesson, 

then search related websites for “nominees” for the “Hall of Shame.”
29

writing a persuasive essay in the form of a letter that nominates a particular individual or 

group for America‟s “Hall of Fame.”

6) For closure, answer Guiding Questions in student journal.
30

Three Steps Forward and Two Steps Back:

The Slow Progress of Civil Rights

Lesson #7

Tie-in to Textbook: In general, use the chapter dealing with the foundations of 

democracy. In the textbook, American Civics, use Chapter 4: Rights and 

Responsibilities.

General Objectives for Lesson #7:

Students will form questions for themselves.

Students will recognize that the struggle for civil rights and American democracy 

is NOT a finished chapter in American history. In other words, it did not begin or 

end in the 1950s and 1960s.

Students will understand that Americans have tried to resolve civil rights issues in 

a variety of different ways.

Students will relate civil rights issues of the past to their own present-day lives.

Students will understand that ethnicities, minorities, and other groups in the U.S. 

have not received equal rights treatment throughout history.

Students will illustrate the need for Americans to constantly watch for abuse of 

civil rights against any one group.

Process for Lesson #7: This lesson teaches the series of events in the mid and late 1800s 

that led to a segregated Little Rock Central High School. It highlights the great – but 

temporary – breakthroughs in civil rights for African Americans following the American 

Civil War, including the 13th, 14th, and 15 Amendments that ended slavery, required 

states to give equal protection under the law, and guaranteed the right to vote to men. 

The lesson also illustrates how great changes often cause counter reactions.

Lesson #7 introduces the following concepts to students:

* Breakthrough legislation that gave civil rights to African-Americans.

* Counter reactions to social change.

Materials Needed:

Civics textbook

Student journal (student provides)

Computer access (teacher provide)

Alternative Activity (for teacher use; CD ROM)
31

Guiding Questions:

1) How did the doors of white high schools around the U.S. become closed to 

African-American students, beginning with in the 19th century?

2) How was the issue of civil rights for former slaves solved after the Civil War?

3) How did the U.S. Supreme Court interpret the 14th Amendment so that AfricanAmericans no longer had the same rights as white citizens?

4) What was life like for African-Americans under the counter legislation in the U.S. 

by the beginning of the 20th century?

5) If your right to “equal protection under the law” is actually a written rule of law –

the U.S. Constitution – how can that right be denied? Who or what could allow 

that to happen?

Bell-Ringer: Pick your choice examples of Jim Crow laws in Arkansas. Write a threesentence explanation of how these laws might have affected the Little Rock Nine.

Activities for Lesson #7:

1)Using computer skills, research on line for background history of Jim Crow laws, 

finding out the following:

Origin of the name “Jim Crow.”

Reason for laws.

Examples of laws.

After finding out the information, write a compare/contrast essay:

Select two different personal stories from an oral history website about living 

under Jim Crow.

Take notes using a Compare/Contrast outline.

Finally, draw own conclusions about how Jim Crow laws affected the way people 

think and use this for the concluding paragraphs.

2) Work with English teacher on Alternative Activity (CD ROM) between civics and 

English classes.

3) For closure, answer Guiding Questions in student journal.
32

Vocabulary

Aaron v. Cooper: United States Supreme Court decision (1957-1958) that instructed the 

Little Rock School Board to proceed immediately with the Blossom Plan for 

desegregation.

Arkansas Gazette: Arkansas‟ oldest newspaper (1819) – now known as the Arkansas 

Democrat-Gazette.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Gave coverage to the crisis at Little Rock Central High 

School in 1957; Received both the Pulitzer Prize and the Freedom Award for unbiased 

news reporting of events.

Arkansas National Guard: State militia called up by Governor Orval Faubus to keep 

the nine African-American students from attending Little Rock Central High School in 

September of 1957; Later used to protect the nine students during the 1957-1958 school 

year under federal orders.

Arkansas State Legislature: Law-making body for the State of Arkansas; Composed of 

the Senate and House of Representatives; Instrumental in passing segregationist bills 

during the 1950s that supported Governor Orval Faubus in his quest to keep the Little 

Rock schools separate.

Blossom Plan: Little Rock School District plan for desegregation of public schools 

beginning in 1957; Named for the Little Rock District Superintendent, Virgil Blossom. 

Brown v Board of Education of Topeka: Landmark 1954 court case in which the 

Supreme Court of the United States unanimously declared that it was unconstitutional to 

create separate schools for children on the basis of race. The Brown ruling ranks as one of 

the most important Supreme Court decisions of the 20th century. At the time of the 

decision, 17 southern states and the District of Columbia required that all public schools 

be racially segregated. A few northern and western states, including Kansas, left the issue 

of segregation up to individual school districts. While most schools in Kansas were 

integrated in 1954, the elementary schools in Topeka were not.

Capital Citizens Council: Group of segregationists that formed to keep the schools of 

Little Rock separate.

Civil Rights: The rights belonging to an individual by virtue of citizenship, especially the 

fundamental freedoms and privileges guaranteed by the 13th and 14th Amendments to 

the U.S. Constitution and by subsequent acts of Congress, including civil liberties, due 

process, equal protection of the laws, and freedom from discrimination.

Daisy Gatson Bates: (born Huttig, Union County, Arkansas in 1914 and died in 1999; 

married L. C. Bates (1901-1980) and settled in Little Rock) Bates and her husband 

published the Arkansas State Press, the most influential African-American newspaper in 
33

Arkansas. Bates also served as a member of the NAACP and served as president of the 

Arkansas State Conference of NAACP branches. It was in this capacity that Daisy Bates 

became the advisor to the Little Rock Nine. In 1960, Bates moved to New York City and 

spent two years writing her memoirs of the Central High crisis. The Long Shadow of 

Little Rock was published in 1962 with an introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt. After 

completion of the book, Bates moved to Washington, D. C. where she worked for the 

Democratic National Committee and for the Johnson administration‟s anti-poverty 

programs. After suffering a stroke in 1965, she returned to Little Rock.

Desegregation: To abolish or eliminate segregation in; To open (a school or workplace, 

for example) to members of all races or ethnic groups, especially by force of law.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr: (1929-1968), American clergyman and Nobel Prize 

winner, one of the principal leaders of the American civil rights movement and a 

prominent advocate of nonviolent protest. King‟s challenges to segregation and racial 

discrimination in the 1950s and 1960s helped convince many Americans to support the 

cause of civil rights in the United States. After his assassination in 1968, King became a 

symbol of protest in the struggle for racial justice.

Fourteenth Amendment: An amendment to the Constitution of the United States 

adopted in 1868; extends the guarantees of the Bill of Rights to the states as well as to the 

federal government.

Governor Orval Faubus: (born Combs, Arkansas, 1910 and died in 1994) Governor of 

Arkansas (1955–67) and schoolteacher, Faubus served in World War II. After the war, 

he became a state highway commissioner. Elected governor, Faubus initially pursued a 

liberal course in office but to combat his political opponents who were staunch 

segregationists, he adopted a hard-line 

civil rights position. In 1957, Faubus gained national attention when he called out the 

Arkansas National Guard to prevent the integration of Central High School in Little 

Rock, but he was eventually forced to withdraw the Guard. After rioting broke out, 

President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent U.S. troops to Little Rock and put the National 

Guard under federal command in order to ensure the integration of the school. Faubus‟ 

political expediency resulted in his repeated reelection as governor but also prevented 

him from moving into the national political arena. In 1970, 1974, and 1986 he sought 

reelection as governor of Arkansas but was unsuccessful in each attempt at a political 

comeback, the last time losing to Bill Clinton.

Greater Little Rock Improvement League: Organization that formed to end the 

desegregation crisis at Little Rock Central High School without pursuing litigation.

Judge Richard Davies: Federal judge who ordered the continued desegregation of Little 

Rock Central High School in September of 1957.
34

Integration: The act or process of making whole; the bringing of people of different 

racial or ethnic groups into unrestricted and equal association, as in society or an

organization.

Little Rock Central High School: High school built in 1927 that served as the scene for 

the desegregation crisis of 1957; the building was declared a National Historic Landmark 

in 1982 and a National Historic Site in 1998.

Little Rock Nine: Term given the first nine African-American students who attended 

Little Rock Central High School during the 1957-1958 school year. The nine students 

are Melba Pattillo, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Gloria Ray, Carlotta Walls, Terrence 

Roberts, Jefferson Thomas, Minnijean Brown, Thelma Mothershed.

Mother’s League of Central High School: Group of women that opposed 

desegregation.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP):

Organization founded in 1909 in New York City for the purpose of improving the 

conditions under which African Americans lived at that time. Although these conditions 

have improved enormously, many differences still exist in the exercise of rights of U.S. 

citizens solely because of race or ethnic origin. The NAACP continues to seek a single 

class of citizenship for every American.

U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division: Federal troops sent from Fort Campbell, 

Kentucky, to ensure the safety of the nine African-American students at Little Rock 

Central High School and to keep peace in the city of Little Rock in the event of protest or 

violence.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower: (born in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1890 and died 

in 1969) American military leader and 34th president of the United States (1953-1961).

Segregation: The act of segregating, or the state of being segregated; Separation from 

others; A parting.

State Sovereignty Committee: Committee formed by the Arkansas State Legislature to 

investigate the forces pushing for integration of Little Rock public schools.

State’s Rights: All rights not delegated to the federal government by the 

Constitution nor denied by it to the states; The political position advocating strict 

interpretation of the Constitution with regard to the limitation of federal powers and the 

extension of the autonomy of the individual state to the greatest possible degree. 

Unconstitutional: Not constitutional; Not according to, or consistent with, the terms of a 

constitution of government; Contrary to the constitution.
35

Bibliography

Anderson, Jervis. Bayard Rustin: Troubles I’ve Seen: A Biography. 

Beals, Melba Pattillo. Warriors Don’t Cry (award-winning autobiography of one of the 

Little Rock Central High Nine).

Birnbaum, Jonathan and Clarence Taylor, ed. Civil Rights Since 1787: A Reader on the 

Black Struggle. 

Boyle, Kevin. The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1945-1968. 

Branch, Taylor. Parting the Waters: America I the King Years, 1954-63 and Pillar of 

Fire: America in the King Years: 1963-65

Brattain, Michelle. The Politics of Whiteness: Race, Workers, and Culture in the Modern 

South. 

Brauer, Carl M. John F. Kennedy and the Second Reconstruction. 

Burner, Eric R. And Gently He Shall Lead Them: Robert Parris Moses and Civil Rights 

in Mississippi. 

Burns, Stewart, ed. Daybreak of Freedom: The Montgomery Bus Boycott. 

Cagin, Seth and Philip Dray. We Are Not Afraid: The Story of Goodman, Schwerner, and 

Chaney and the Civil Rights Campaign for Mississippi. 

Carson, Clayborne. In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s. 

Chafe, William H. Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the 

Black Struggle for Freedom. 

Chamberlain, Charles D. Victory at Home: Manpower and Race in the American South 

during World War II. 

Chappell, David L. Inside Agitators: White Southerners in the Civil Rights Movement. 

Clark, E. Culpepper. The Schoolhouse Door: Segregation’s Last Stand At the University 

of Alabama. 

Cortner, Richard C. A Mob Intent on Death: The NAACP and the Arkansas Riot Cases. 

D‟Angelo, Raymond. The American Civil Rights Movement: Readings and 

Interpretations.

Daniel, Pete. Lost Revolutions: The South in the 1950s. 

Davis, Jack E. ed. The Civil Rights Movement. 

Dent, Tom. Southern Journey: A Return to the Civil Rights Movement. 

Dittimer, John. Local People: The Struggle For Civil Rights in Mississippi. 
36

Dray, Phillip. At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America. 

Eagles, Charles W. Outside Agitator: Jon Daniels and the Civil Rights Movement in 

Alabama.

Egerton, John. Speak Now Against the Day: The Generation before the Civil Rights 

Movement in the South. 

Fairlough, Adam. Better Day Coming: Blacks and Equality, 1890-2000. 

Foner, Philip S. The Black Panthers Speak. 

Fosl, Catherine. Subversive Southerner: Anne Braden and the Struggle for Racial Justice 

in the Cold War South. 

Gallen, David. Malcolm X As they Knew Him. 

Garrow, David. Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian 

Leadership Conference. T

Garrow, David J. Protest at Selma: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Voting Rights Act of 

1965.

Gerstle, Gary. American Crucible: Race and Nation in the Twentieth Century. 

Halberstam, David. The Children. 

Halberstam, David. The Fifties. 

Hampton, Henry and Steve Fayer, eds. Voices of Freedom: An Oral History of the Civil 

Rights Movement from the 1950s through the 1980s.

Hendrickson, Paul. Sons of Mississippi.

Holt, Lee – The Summer That Didn’t End: The Story of the Mississippi Civil Rights 

Project of 1964

Jacoway, Elizabeth and C. Fred Williams. Understanding the Little Rock Crisis: An 

Exercise in Remembrance and Reconciliation.

Korstad, Robert Rodgers. Civil Rights Unionism: Tobacco Workers and the Struggle for 

Democracy in the Mid-Twentieth-Century. 

Lee, Chana Kai. For Freedom’s Sake: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer. 

Litwack, Leon F. Trouble In Mind: Black Southerners in the Age of Jim Crow. 
37

Mann, Robert. The Walls of Jericho: Lyndon Johnson, Hurbert Humphrey, Richard 

Russell, and the Struggle for Civil Rights.

Matusow, Allen J. The Unraveling of America: A History of Liberalism in the 1960s. 

McWhorter, Diane. Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama The Climatic Battle of the 

Civil Rights Revolution. 

Metress, Christopher, ed. The Lynching of Emmett Till: A Documentary Narrative. 

Moye, J. Todd. Let the People Decide: Black Freedom and White Resistance Movements 

in Sunflower County, Mississippi, 1945-1986.

Newman, Mark. Getting Right With God: Southern Baptists and Desegregation, 1945-

1995. 

Norrell, Robert J. Reaping the Whirlwind: The Civil Rights Movement in Tuskegee. 

O‟Reilly, Kenneth. “Racial Matters”: The FBI’s Secret File on Black America, 1960-

1972. 

Ownby, Ted, ed. The Role of Ideas in the Civil Rights South. 

Payne, Charles M. I’ve Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the 

Mississippi Freedom Struggle. 

Pearson, Hugh. The Shadow of the Panther: Huey Newton and the Price of Black Power 

in America. 

Ransby, Barbara. Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic 

Vision. 

Rieder, Jonathan. Canarsie: The Jews and Italians of Brooklyn against Liberalism. –

Sikora, Frank. Until Justice Rolls Down: The Birmingham Church Bombing Case. 

Stanton, Mary. From Selma to Sorrow: The Life and Death of Viola Liuzzo. 

Tushnet, Mark V. Making Civil Rights Law: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court, 

1936-1961. 

Whitfield, Stephen J. A Death in the Delta: The Story of Emmett Till. 

Zinn, Howard. You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our 

Times. 
38
39

Sources for this unit:

“All The World Is Watching,” Little Rock Central High School exhibit text. National 

Park Service, 1997.

Susan B. Anthony (1900) by Frances Benjamin Johnston. Library of Congress, 

Washington, D.C.

Arkansas National Guard and Students, September 1957 by Will Counts. Arkansas 

History Commission, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Daisy Gatson Bates (ca. 1950s) by Binn photography. Special Collections, University of 

Arkansas. Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Cesar Chavez (1966) for the New York World-Telegram and Sun Collection. Library of 

Congress, Washington, D.C.

Declaration of Independence (original, 1776), National Archives and Records 

Administration, Washington, D.C.

Declaration of Independence Translation (original, 1776), National Archives and Records 

Administration, Washington, D.C.

Elizabeth Eckford on September 4, 1957 by Will Counts. Arkansas History Commission, 

Little Rock, Arkansas.

English Bill of Rights (1689), The Avalon Project, Yale University.

Hector P. Garcia (ca. 1960s). Bell Library, Texas A&M University.

Langston Hughes (1942) by Jack Delano for OWI. Library of Congress, Washington, 

D.C.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) by John Trumbull, ca. 1780s, National Portrait Gallery, 

Washington, D.C.

King Charles II (1630-1685) by Adriaen Hanneman, ca. 1648, National Portrait Gallery, 

London, England.

King George III (1738-1820) by Woollett (engraver) after a portrait by A. Ramsey, ca. 

1760-1785. Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Martin Luther King. Jr. (ca. 1960s). Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Fred Korematsu (ca. 1980s) by ACLU News. 
40

Little Rock Nine entering Central High School on September 25, 1957 by Will Counts. 

Arkansas History Commission, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Stephen E. Lucas, The Stylistic Artistry of the Declaration of Independence (1989), 

National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

Magna Carta (1022), National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

Magna Carta Translation (1022), National Archives and Records Administration, 

Washington, D.C.

Thurgood Marshall (ca. 1960s). Library of Congress, Washngton, D.C.

Rosa Parks on Bus (1954). Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Margaret Sanger (1922) by Underwood and Underwood. Library of Congress, 

Washngton, D.C.

Terrence Roberts and the Arkansas National Guard, September 1957 by Will Counts. 

Arkansas History Commission, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Sitting Bull (ca. late 1800s). Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Gloria Steinem (1972) by Warren K. Leffler for U.S. News and World Report magazine. 

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

U.S. Bill of Rights (1789), National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, 

D.C.

Booker T. Washington (ca. 1890-1910) by unknown photographer. Library of Congress, 

Washington, D.C.