Arkansas
Little Rock
Central High School
Little Rock
Central High School
December 2010
I visited here in 2010 with my nephew, Jameson. I've wanted to come here for a number of years to see Central High School, the site of so much controversy in the fight fro civil rights. I wasn't sure Jameson was old enough or ready to handle this difficult topic. He was only twelve and had lived a sheltered, white life. But he got it. He didn't say a lot but when he reflected on the visit, he got it.
We went right to Central High School in Little Rock. The school is still standing as it had in the 1950's. The front facade is exactly the same. The old gas station, where the national Guard parked their vehicles for weeks, sits right across the street. On the other corner is a museum. The young, black students who walked in to this hateful school in 1957 have been interviewed and they tell their stories as I stare out a window with full view of the front entrance of the school. As they talk, I can see where they walked, where the haters stood, where the National Guard intervened.
I am stunned at the courage of these young children. They are only 14 or 15 years old and they are alone. Their parents are not with them. One victim recalls her fears and she looks in to a crowd for some support. She sees a woman, about her mother's age and gestures to this woman who spits on her face. A grown woman spit on a child's face.
I don't have that much courage.
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