On September 4, 1957, Elizabeth Eckford and eight other students we know as the Little Rock Nine made an attempt to enter Little Rock Central High School, which had been segregated. With no help of the National Guard, an angry mob surrounded the school.
AsEckford tried to enter the school, soldiers of the National Guard stepped in her way to prevent her from entering. Eventually, she gave up and tried to run to a bus stop through the mob who surrounded her and threatened to lynch her.Once at the bus stop, she couldn't stop crying. A reporter, Benjamin Fine, sat down next to Eckford. He tried to comfort her and told her, "don't let them see you cry."She was soon also protected by a white woman named Grace Lorch who helped her onto a city bus.
The plan was to have the nine children arrive together, the Eckford family's didn't have a telephone, Elizabeth didn't know of the change. She and the other eight students were supposed to wait for Daisy Bates, a strong activist for desegregation, so that they could all walk together to the rear entrance of the school.This last minute change made Elizabeth take a different route to school and walk up to the front entrance completely alone.
As could be expected, integration into the school wasen't going to be a peaceful event. Even under the protection of troop, daily incedents of violence were not always able to be prevented. There were times when Eckford was thrown down a flight of stairs.
The following year, all of the citys high schools were closed so Eckford couldn't graduate from Central High. However, she took correspondence and night courses to earn just enough credits for her high school diploma.
In 1958, Eckford and the rest of the Little Rock Nine were awarded the Spingarn Medal by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Eckford was accepted into Knox College in Illinois, but she left to be near her family in Little Rock. She later attend Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, and earned a BA in history.
Today she is a parol officer