The Little Rock Nine
An excerpt from "A Woman's World", my new book in collaboration with Dan Jones
Elizabeth Eckford knew there would be trouble on the way to school on 4th September 1957. She and eight other black children were going to Little Rock Central High, the first black students in the country to attend what had been an all-white school after the US Supreme Court declared educational segregation to be unconstitutional.
The Eckford family didn’t get a message about a last-minute change of plans for the first day’s entrance, so Elizabeth went to school alone. The school board had advised the parents of the Little Rock Nine to stay away, should their presence incite a mob.
Between a crowd of people and the school stood a line of National Guards, who Elizabeth thought would protect her. The state governor had ordered them not to let the black students pass. The mob chanted as she made her way to the school building. “Two, four, six, eight. We ain’t gonna integrate!” “Lynch her, lynch her!” As she tried to walk in behind some white students, a Guard raised his bayonet to her.
Elizabeth walked to a nearby bus stop and sat on a bench. Some of the crowd followed, threatening to lynch her. Eventually, a white woman helped her on to a bus. Three weeks later, with the National Guard under federal control, US troops walked the Little Rock Nine into school for the first time. Elizabeth became a teacher, a social worker and spent five years in the US Army.
She lived in Little Rock as an adult, the only one of the Nine to do so.
This is an excerpt from our new book, A Woman's World, publish this Thursday (August 4th) by Head of Zeus. Pre-order the book today to support my work.
Thank you so much!
