On February 7, 2007, the Citrus College Black Student Union (BSU) in Glendora, CA, invited Dr. Terrance Roberts to speak to local middle, high, and college students about his life story for Black History Month. Since moving to Pasadena, CA, Dr Roberts has visited schools and made television appearances to tell the story of that first day of school in Little Rock, Arkansas, and the lessons that could be learned. He is one of the “Little Rock Nine,” one of the nine students chosen to desegregate Little Rock Central High School in 1957. I was one of the college students and BSU members who were present that day.
Before 1957, a lawsuit was filed against the school district by residents of Clarendon County, South Carolina. It was an issue of having equal rights to an education for all races, especially African American students. Schools were segregated at this time, and this made it difficult for many black students who had to go very far from home to go to school. Once at school, the materials were unsatisfactory for the students to learn with. Yet there were excellent schools nearby with much better learning materials. Four cases, along with Brown v. Board of Education, were filed against various school districts because the “separate but equal” unwritten rule violated the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution. The ruling was against them, and the cases were taken all the way to the United States Supreme Court. All five cases were heard. Justice Thurgood Marshall was among those who argued the cases. He stated that being “separate but equal” allowed the government to stop state action based on race. That included segregation in the public schools.
After the ruling, the Little Rock School Board of Arkansas was among the first to volunteer to desegregate. Out of hundreds of students, 10 were selected to be among the first African Americans to attend the once-segregated schools. Orval Faubus, the Arkansas governor, was not happy with desegregation and called for the State Troopers to block the 10 students on the first day they were to start. President Dwight Eisenhower sent U.S. Army Troops (the 101st Airborne Division) and federalized the Arkansas National Guard to allow the 10 students to enter the high school.
Dr. Roberts recalled that time to the audience. Many in the audience had never heard of him specifically, although most were familiar with the handful of students who attended an all-white school. He introduced his lecture by showing the news footage of the students walking into the high school. He also showed a photo of Elizabeth Eckford as she bravely entered the school amid jeers from the crowd. As mentioned earlier, 10 students were selected to start school on September 23, 1957. Sadly, one of the female students’ fathers was threatened and was told he would lose his job if he returned. Therefore, only nine students started that day.
On that first day of school, a 15-year-old 10th-grade student named Beverly Maxine Burke was interviewed by the FBI. She was in a local drug store across from the high school, where she overheard several students and local boys plotting against the incoming black students. She said one of the students had a belt with tacks or nails in it to wrap around his fist to try to hit one of the Black students. Another had a switchblade, eager to cause extreme harm to the nine students and make their school year unbearable.
Dr Roberts recounted that daily, the military had to escort them to and from school, stand guard at the door, and escort them to their classrooms each period. A few of the nine students did not survive an entire month and went back to the black schools due to the horrible treatment from the white students. He and a few others remained. He said that as he walked through the halls of the school, he was spat at, jeered at with horrible names being called to him, struck, and Dr. Robert’s personal items were even destroyed. Yet he came back to school each day. He recalled one time that tacks were placed in his seat as he went to sit down, yet he went back.
As Dr Roberts spoke to the audience, his demeanor was calm, intellectual, and humble. He exclaimed, “For every day this occurred, I never became angry…every day I would hold my head up, get ready, and go to school.” He even said he silently made a game out of the things he said to him. He did not repeat the words or retaliate, but said if a remark were made, he would tell them, “Is that the best you came up with…” or “Did you work on that one all night…” or “Now that was a good one!” He had excused their behavior, feeling the students were nothing but products of their environment. It was how they were taught by their parents to be, and he was raised much better than that. After the governor shut down the high school, he and his family moved to Los Angeles, CA, where he finished and graduated from high school. He went on to college and earned his doctorate.
After the lecture, the members of the BSU enjoyed a luncheon meet-and-greet with Dr. Terrance Roberts. I helped organize the event and brought my 4-year-old daughter with me. He graciously invited us to sit next to him. I asked him, “Weren’t you just a little mad or even how it must have hurt you,” to deal with that every day. He smiled and said that it did not hurt. They were words of ignorance. Then he addressed the members at the lunch, telling them, “Only you define your future; no one can ever take that away from you.” Those words resonated with me so much that, to this day, every day of my girls’ lives, I never let them forget that they define their own future, no one else.
On September 23, 1957, nine students volunteered in Little Rock, Arkansas, and opened the door for all children, regardless of race or color, to attend any school, anywhere. February 5, 2007, is a day I will never forget, meeting one of the Little Rock Nine.