"DBHF"

The ‘Little Rock Nine’ are escorted inside Little Rock Central High School by troops of the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army.

A TENSE YEAR: By the end of September 1957, the nine were admitted to Little Rock Central High under the protection of the U.S. Army (and later the Arkansas National Guard), but they were still subjected to a year of physical and verbal abuse (being spat on and called names) by many of the white students. 

Melba Pattillo had acid thrown into her eyes and also recalled in her book, Warriors Don’t Cry, an incident in which a group of white girls trapped her in a stall in the girls’ washroom and attempted to burn her alive by dropping pieces of flaming paper on her from above. 

Another one of the students, Minnijean Brown, was verbally confronted and abused. She said: “I was one of the kids ‘approved’ by the school officials. We were told we would have to take a lot and were warned not to fight back if anything happened. One girl ran up to me and said, ‘I’m so glad you’re here. Won’t you go to lunch with me today?” I never saw her again.”

Brown was also taunted by members of a group of white male students in December 1957 in the school cafeteria during lunch. She dropped her lunch—a bowl of chili—onto the boys and was suspended for 6 days. 2 months later, after more confrontation, Brown was suspended for the rest of the school year. She transferred to New Lincoln High School in New York City.