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Cooper v. Aaron
, integrated schools returned to Little Rock. 53
The turmoil and the school closings imposed a high personal cost on many students. Students of both races suffered, some suffering permanent harm. The Little Rock Nine displayed much bravery and dignity in dealing with the hatred around them. Some students (including members of the Little Rock Nine) attended schools in other districts or out of state. Others took correspondence courses from the University of Arkansas. Some followed their teachers’ presentations on local television stations. But for many these alternatives did not work. Central High’s all-state football team fell apart, and many members never received high school diplomas. And what was true of the team was true of the entire class. Many of Central High’s “Lost Class of ’59” wereunable to qualify for admission to college. Many found their lives changed permanently and for the worse. 54
In addition to losing their education, their high school activities, perhaps their chance of college, many later came to regret their behavior at the time. They did not know how to explain their refusal to help their new black classmates. Some in later life worked to improve race relations. And in 1999, over forty years after troops appeared at Central High, Hazel Bryan, the woman photographed with her face contorted in rage, appeared publicly with one of the Nine, Elizabeth Eckford, to explain how they had achieved reconciliation. 55
Others suffered setbacks. Brooks Hays, the congressman who arranged for Governor Faubus to meet with President Eisenhower, became known as a “moderate.” He lost the next election, while Governor Faubus remained in office until 1967. 56
What happened in Little Rock did not produce speedy integration throughout the South. The civil rights movement was just beginning. Judges had not yet tried school busing as a remedy. But the Little Rock case did help prevent further violent community confrontations. It helped begin a process of integration that, in practice, is not complete. But today Central High is integrated. Fifty-two percent of its twenty-five hundred students are black; 42 percent are white. It has become one of the best public high schools in America, with 867 students taking at least one Advanced Placement course. 57
For present purposes, the Little Rock story represents a hard-earned victory for the rule of law. The Court’s determination to enforce
Brown
was not solely responsible. The arrival of 101st Airborne paratroopers made a critical difference, as did the juxtaposition of two photographs, the first showing a white woman’s enraged face, the second showing federal troops surrounding and protecting the black children. So did the decision of a district judge ordering a governor to stop his interference, a decision that the president later enforced by sending troops. But the Court’s assertion of judicial supremacy—similar to that made earlier by the president, repeated by the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, and used by others who sought integration (and an end to racial violence) in the South—was a critical ingredient.
Today, only a mile away from Central High, one can find the graveof the wife of the Cherokee chief Ross. That grave marks the spot where she died on the Trail of Tears on her way to Oklahoma—after the government evicted her and her fellow Cherokees from their Georgian lands. The grave and the school together tell a story about acceptance of the rule of law in America. Although the distance between the grave and the school is small, the nation had come a long way in the time between the two decisions that they symbolize. It was moving in the right direction.
Chapter Six
A Present-Day Example
I N RECENT DECADES any number of Court decisions have closely divided the justices and proved highly unpopular with large numbers of Americans. Consider, for example, the decisions protecting a woman’s decision to have an
Cooper v. Aaron
, integrated schools returned to Little Rock. 53
The turmoil and the school closings imposed a high personal cost on many students. Students of both races suffered, some suffering permanent harm. The Little Rock Nine displayed much bravery and dignity in dealing with the hatred around them. Some students (including members of the Little Rock Nine) attended schools in other districts or out of state. Others took correspondence courses from the University of Arkansas. Some followed their teachers’ presentations on local television stations. But for many these alternatives did not work. Central High’s all-state football team fell apart, and many members never received high school diplomas. And what was true of the team was true of the entire class. Many of Central High’s “Lost Class of ’59” wereunable to qualify for admission to college. Many found their lives changed permanently and for the worse. 54
In addition to losing their education, their high school activities, perhaps their chance of college, many later came to regret their behavior at the time. They did not know how to explain their refusal to help their new black classmates. Some in later life worked to improve race relations. And in 1999, over forty years after troops appeared at Central High, Hazel Bryan, the woman photographed with her face contorted in rage, appeared publicly with one of the Nine, Elizabeth Eckford, to explain how they had achieved reconciliation. 55
Others suffered setbacks. Brooks Hays, the congressman who arranged for Governor Faubus to meet with President Eisenhower, became known as a “moderate.” He lost the next election, while Governor Faubus remained in office until 1967. 56
What happened in Little Rock did not produce speedy integration throughout the South. The civil rights movement was just beginning. Judges had not yet tried school busing as a remedy. But the Little Rock case did help prevent further violent community confrontations. It helped begin a process of integration that, in practice, is not complete. But today Central High is integrated. Fifty-two percent of its twenty-five hundred students are black; 42 percent are white. It has become one of the best public high schools in America, with 867 students taking at least one Advanced Placement course. 57
For present purposes, the Little Rock story represents a hard-earned victory for the rule of law. The Court’s determination to enforce
Brown
was not solely responsible. The arrival of 101st Airborne paratroopers made a critical difference, as did the juxtaposition of two photographs, the first showing a white woman’s enraged face, the second showing federal troops surrounding and protecting the black children. So did the decision of a district judge ordering a governor to stop his interference, a decision that the president later enforced by sending troops. But the Court’s assertion of judicial supremacy—similar to that made earlier by the president, repeated by the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, and used by others who sought integration (and an end to racial violence) in the South—was a critical ingredient.
Today, only a mile away from Central High, one can find the graveof the wife of the Cherokee chief Ross. That grave marks the spot where she died on the Trail of Tears on her way to Oklahoma—after the government evicted her and her fellow Cherokees from their Georgian lands. The grave and the school together tell a story about acceptance of the rule of law in America. Although the distance between the grave and the school is small, the nation had come a long way in the time between the two decisions that they symbolize. It was moving in the right direction.
Chapter Six
A Present-Day Example
I N RECENT DECADES any number of Court decisions have closely divided the justices and proved highly unpopular with large numbers of Americans. Consider, for example, the decisions protecting a woman’s decision to have an
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