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Little Rock, Arkansas was already partially integrated and no one expected that their would be a segregation issue in an area ready for integration The Little Rock Nine problem took place in Central High School of Little Rock, Arkansas on September 3, 1957

It was the day before their first day of school. Nine African-American students were about to be admitted into this school. Before their first day, Governor Orval Faubus made a statement, on television, saying that it would not be possible to keep the school in order if their was immediate integration. On the first day of school, the nine students did not come as the school board worked on the segregation issue.

The Little Rock Nine were Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Pattillo, Gloria Ray, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas, and Carlotta Walls.

Governor Faubus ordered the national guard to be at the school in case of problems. The next day, when the black students arrived, the national guard blocked their way, but on September 20 the district court ordered the governor to stop blocking the students and to remove the troops. He refused. and got a thousand angry segregationists to surround Central High on the morning of September 21.

The white students called, "Two, four, six, eight, we ain't gonna integrate." at them. When the mob started to get violent the mayor ordered the nine students to leave and said that the African-American students would not go to Central High again unless the president gave them protection.

That evening, President Eisenhower said that the actions at Central High should not be allowed and he ordered those who were breaking federal law to stop and that the mob had to leave. But they ignored the president. And then an even larger mob formed outside the high school on the morning of September 22.

Little Rock's mayor, couldnt contain the mob, so he asked for federal help. On September 24, 1957, Eisenhower ordered 1,000 troops to go to Little Rock. By 5 A.M., paratroopers had surrounded the school. Federal troops picked up the Little Rock Nine from their home of Bates and escorted them to school. The soldiers stayed there for two more months, but the Arkansas guardsmen continued to patrol Central High for the rest of the school year. Even after that, the students continued to be harassed.

Minnijean Brown was expelled from the school after giving a rude answer to a racial slur given to her in February of 1958. In 1958 though, Ernest Green went on to become the first African-American to graduate from Central High.

The problem began nation wide meaning that the whole country knew about this entire event. This issue helped to desegregate Arkansas schools as well as many other public places in Arkansas. It also helped to inform the public and the country as a whole of how bad segregation has become.