Background Information In order to understand the history of racial tensions in America, one must first explore the background of a few significant protests. The United States was born out of slavery and discrimination. Although not many of these factors may seem to exist today, the remnants of past racial events have created a connection of how Americans viewed minority groups today. In 1954, during the Brown v. Board of Education, the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. For civil rights activists, it was considered a major victory and milestone to bring racial integration within the United States. However, despite the Supreme Court ruling in the civil rights activists’ favor, there a few states that refused to obey the Supreme Court’s ruling. In Little Rock, Arkansas, nine African Americans enrolled into an all-white Little Rock Central High School (“Integration”). The locals refused to allow integrations of races into Little Rock and the governor of Arkansas tested the might of the federal government by deploying the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the nine African Americans from entering the high school (“Integration”). President Eisenhower decided to put the Arkansas National Guard from state control to federal control, and deploy the 101st Airborne Division to escort the nine African American students to the high school (“Integration”). As the years passed, the nine eventually graduated and to today’s standards, Little Rock Central High School has all kinds of races attending its classes and facilities (“Integration”). The aftermath after the Little Rock Crisis shows to the United States Federal Government that there was no “official” equality to be enforced, despite the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment was passed following the civil war.
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The Legacy and Impact
There are times where past racial confrontations has somewhat a great effect to shape the racial views of Americans. However, sometimes, in order to change the racial views of Americans, the United States government has to act upon the issue, even if it means using force. One of the most well-known racial confrontation that shaped the integration of races in schools is the Little Rock Crisis. The Little Rock Crisis was concerning nine African American children who were known as the Little Rock Nine. Despite the Supreme Court ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, the governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, refused to follow the United States Supreme Court’s ruling by calling upon the Arkansas National Guard in order to prevent the nine African American children from entering Little Rock Central High School. Although most local white Americans oppose the integration of schools in Little Rock, President Eisenhower removed the Arkansas National Guard from state control and ordered the 101st Airborne to escort the Little Rock Nine to their classes. The legacy and impact of the Little Rock Crisis has dramatically changed the ways and views of many Americans in terms of integration of schools. At first, many Americans felt awkward because they have never experience a change in the education system. It has been a first time in over a hundred and fifty years where different races of Americans are able to socialize with one another in schools. Overtime and to even today’s standards, many Americans approve of having different kinds of races attending the same school. However, despite segregation in schools to be considered vanquished, there are a few schools out there that segregate races in school activities.
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