Sept. 4, 1957: The governor of Arkansas deploys force to prevent the “Little Rock Nine” from integrating

Saturday 4 September 2010

Three years after the Supreme Court deemed segregation unconstitutional in Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, nine African-American students enrolled to attend a previously all-white high school in Little Rock, Ark. Taking a stand against integration, Gov. Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to the school Sept. 4, 1957, to physically prevent the nine students from entering.

As news and images of the "Little Rock Nine" were broadcast throughout the country, the crisis became a symbol of the growing civil rights struggle in America. President Eisenhower eventually intervened to enforce the Supreme Court decision by ordering Faubus not to resist integration and deploying federal troops to protect the students.