On this day in 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Arkansas to support the integration of Little Rock High School.
In 1954, the US Supreme Court had ruled that laws mandating racially-segregated schools were unconstitutional and called for all schools to be de-segregated. After the decision, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) attempted to register black students in previously all-white schools in cities throughout the South. In Little Rock, Arkansas, the school board agreed to comply with the high court’s ruling. Virgil Blossom, the Superintendent of Schools, submitted a plan of gradual integration to the school board on May 24, 1955, which the board unanimously approved. The plan would be implemented during the fall of the 1957 school year, which would begin in September 1957.
When integration began on September 4, 1957, the Arkansas National Guard was called in by Governor Orval Faubus to “preserve the peace”. Originally at orders of the governor, they were meant to prevent the black students from entering due to claims that there was “imminent danger of tumult, riot and breach of peace” at the integration. President Eisenhower issued an order federalizing the Arkansas national guard and thus taking it out of the Governor’s control and sent in troops from the 101st Airborne Division to protect the nine African-American students newly enrolled in Little Rock High School.
Arkansas Sushi…
Today is the birthday, in 1949. of US singer, songwriter and guitarist Bruce Springsteen. Nicknamed ‘The Boss’, he won an Academy Award in 1994 for his song ‘Streets of Philadelphia’, which appeared on the soundtrack to the film Philadelphia. His most successful studio albums, Born in the U.S.A. and Born To Run showcase a talent for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily American life; he has sold more than 71 million albums in the United States and more than 140 million worldwide. He has earned numerous awards for his work, including 20 Grammy Awards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-Ds-FXGGQg
