HighChip Central Integration CarterMr. EstesAmerican History II, C-Block11 March 20141957 was a year of irony and progress. It started and ended “Tuesday” and went from the common thought that African Americans were not equal to whites to greater equality between the two races. It was a difficult time of change for Americans as the civil rights movement was at its peak in 1957. One of the major headlines of that year was the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. In 1954 the Supreme Court decided that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. It was one of the first schools to integrate Central High School because it was known for the Little Rock Nine, a group of nine selected African American students who changed history and began to change the common thinking of African Americans into a positive one. For the purposes of this article I will discuss the positive effects of the integration of Central High School and the Little Rock Nine. In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools would be unconstitutional. About a year later they reiterated their statement that segregation was unconstitutional and said they needed to desegregate “with all deliberate speed.” Some school districts began finding loopholes to get around desegregation, but school officials in Little Rock, AK, said they would agree to desegregate and comply with what the Supreme Court said. School district officials created a system so that black students interested in attending could only attend white schools, but there was a problem. They had to undergo a series of rigorous interviews to determine whether they were eligible for admission. School officials interviewed abou...... middle of paper ......n (ABHM Pg. 2) Central High, was that they were taking a small step to achieve equality for their race. The civil rights movement was a difficult but necessary time of change in America. In 1963 Daisy Bates, president of the Arkansas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said: “More than any other single event in many years, Little Rock has demonstrated the enormous discrepancy between the Declaration of Independence, one of the most precious documents in American history and the reality of twentieth-century America… The impact on Americans and the world was one of Little Rock's historic contributions to the general crusade for rights and dignity.” Our country was built on equality, but to this day we continue the crusade on its behalf, racially, sexually, religiously, etc. It takes courage to change and the Little Rock Nine embody that.