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... endangered the children's lives. Following the Governors proclamation of the new bills, the NAACP appeared in the United States District Federal Court to apply for an injunction barring the use of the National Guard to halt the children's integration into Central High. Governor Faubus, having incited the mob violence and succeeding in intensifying the racist hatred of the segregationists, then placed responsibility of the children's safety onto themselves. Faubus requested the nine children to not exercise their rights to integrate, for their own protection, and ultimately his future popularity amongst segregationists.
Ignoring Faubus' comments, but still forming uneasiness about their vulnerability, connected with being amongst 2, 000 white students, Ernest and the other eight children arrived at Daisy Bates' house on September 23 rd. With the buzz of the media surrounding the event, the children were eager to listen to the white reaction they were to come face to face with. The segregationists gathered outside the school were vocal in their opinions. "Just let those niggers show up! Just let 'em try!" With the angry crowd only metres away from where they were to study Ernest Green remained remarkably calm despite the danger they were plunging themselves into. Such stoicism at an early age would surely have fueled a wanting in the eight children to emulate their unofficial leader.
Ernest Greens strength remained when the segregationists burst through the police barricades the day they attended their first classes. When adults were urging their cohorts to .".. get our shotgun's, they " re in", or urging their white children to come outside away from the Negroes, Ernest recognised that he had to remain focussed in front of the other children. If he were seen to falter in his determination in the others presence, the others would be dissuaded from continuing. Not only for the other eight children was it important for his continuance but for the American black community, whom were all watching intently on the outcome.
Ernest recognised, maybe not as universally as historians have now acknowledged, that the 'Little Rock Nine's ymbolised black America's visualisation of justice and equality. Whilst home for their own protection, President Eisenhower endeavored to have the students on school grounds. When the president ordered the troops of the 101 st Airborne Division, to ensure that the children entered Central High smoothly, Ernest Greens realisation of the situation he and the others were in must have had a profound affect on their self-esteem. For years they had opposed the humiliating system of segregation that had kept black Americans second-class citizens, now the President of the United States had recognised them as 'Americans' that deserved equal protection and access to education. Each morning they assembled at Ernest's house for the jeep escorted ride to Central with the 101 st Airborne. The soldiers, dressed in fatigues, would accompany the children to Central High in the morning, escort the children to their individual classes, wait outside for them, until it was then time to return them home at the end of the day.
The guards shadowed their movements in the school to offer protection, although Ernest Green and the other children had often dealt with prejudice-influenced violence unaccompanied. However, they were still vulnerable under the thin veil of safety within the school that the 101 st Airborne had provided for them. Ernest suffered a deluge of hot wet towels in the shower room after gym on one occasion, whilst the others endured random attacks and endless racial taunts. Ernest, the eldest of the group never seemed to be perturbed by the situation and transferred his coolness onto the others. "Ernest would snap them out with a few words" if they ever felt that they were about to lapse in their determination. Despite the armed guards' protection, the 'Little Rock Nine' were still subjected to racially motivated attacks from particular students. When two of the children were jostled and shoved in the eyes of apathetic 101 st Airborne guardians inside of Central High it was the conviction in Ernest's actions that instigated reserves of strength in all of them to persevere, despite the apparent lack of support.
With Ernest's valiant efforts at hiding his fear of the segregationist crowds in front of the younger children and Daisy Bates "persuasive rationalisation's" of the situation, the weaker willed and easily intimidated of the nine remained. The executive secretary of the Arkansas NAACP revealed that "there have been many moments in which spirits - and bodies - might have been broken", though Ernest knew the ramifications of discontinuing as they were carrying the hopes of many black Americans who were watching their progress intently. Just as they magnetically attracted the hatred of violent racists, they equally attracted the national media. When reporters' repeatedly interviewed Ernest, he thought over thoroughly questions posed of him and answered with confidence. During the year at Central High the nine children experienced popularity on a national scale. Their fame did not swell their self-esteem, but assured them of the impact their role would play in the future of integrated education.
Surely the mental harassment, torture and the media encroaching on their daily lives whilst at Central High would affect their psyche in some way, nevertheless "these young persons showed no overt signs of personality disturbance related to the crisis." The favourable national publicity they received facilitated their desire to persevere. On May 27 th, Ernest Green marched with six hundred and two other white children to graduate where he then attended Michigan State University, the following year. Attempting to block the remaining eight children's chance to graduate, Governor Faubus closed down three white and one Negro high school for one year, after the United States Supreme Court decreed unanimously that integration must proceed at Central High. They reopened the following year with further integration of black students, with reverence to public pressure. Success for Faubus in blocking black children access permanently to white schools would have seen the dissolution of the American constitutional system. For a state to breach Supreme Court sovereignty would render the different minorities, residing in the United States, helpless to further governmental legislature justifying racial discrimination.
In their struggle to preserve racial inequality segregationists immorally resorted to using violence against children. Through "a sharp realisation of the shameful discrimination directed at small children" the world perceived an inconsistency in a nation that preached freedom for all, though denied the very same right to its children. Ernest Green and the other eight students "learned unmistakably that they possessed irresistible power" during the crisis but only if they realised it and united against discrimination and racism. Bibliography Bates, Daisy, The Long Shadow of Little Rock, University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville, 1987. Dealer, Carl N. , Neither Black Nor White, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1971.
Jakoubek, Robert, Martin Luther King, Jr. , Chelsea House Publishers, New York, 1989. Levine, Ellen, Freedoms Children, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1993. Poston, Ted, New York Post - Daily Magazine, 21 st October 1957. Poston, Ted, New York Post, 24 th October 1957.
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Research essay sample on Governor Faubus Eight Children
