Eisenhower's Presidency saw a great deal of change and turmoil in the
nation as well as the world. One of the most important domestic
problems faced by Eisenhower was the early Civil Rights Movement.
Although the famous court case,, Brown v. The Board of Education of
Topeka, Kansas, had declared that school segregation in the South was
unconstitutional, many Southern states refused to integrate their schools.
Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas was one such school.
After several years of stalling, it was to have begun the 1957 school year
desegregated. On September 2, the night before the first day of school,
Governor Faubus announced that he had ordered the Arkansas National
Guard to monitor the school. When a group of nine black students
arrived at Central High on September 3, they were kept from entering by
the National Guardsmen. On September 20, an injunction against
Governor Faubus was issued and three days later the group of nine
students returned to Central High School. Although the students were
not physically injured, a mob of 1,000 townspeople prevented them
from remaining at school. Finally, after many diplomatic efforts,
President Eisenhower intervened militarily, ordering 1,000 paratroopers
and 10,000 National Guardsmen to Little Rock, and on September 25,
Central High School was desegregated. As a result of the Little Rock
incident and the continuing subordinance in southern schools the
Eisenhower administration passed the Civil Rights Bill of 1960, the first
Civil Rights law to be passed in 80 years. This was the first in a series
of bills that would be passed over the next decade to enforce the racial
equality of African-Americans in the United States.
