of the Little Rock 9 – A Book Review and Study Guide

By Yvette Moore
Carlotta Walls LaNier lived the historic and traumatic story of U.S. school desegregation as one of nine African American students who integrated Arkansas’ Little Rock Central High School in 1957. For years she declined invitations to talk about that tumultuous experience because reliving her time a one of the Little Rock 9 was just too painful. Instead, she buried the hurt, avoiding discussions about those years even with family.

That changed in 1987 when she and her comrades returned to Little Rock Central for a 30th anniversary commemoration of their struggle. There, the dam burst, tears flowed, and new memories began to surface. After that, when a high school teacher told her students needed to hear from her, Ms. LaNier “found her voice” and began speaking at schools and other venues about her experience.

Sixty-six years later, she joined with co-author Liza Frazier Page to write A Mighty Long Way, her powerful narrative for young adult readers about her part in events that changed America.
Ms. LaNier begins her story with context, introducing readers to her family, just a few generations from slavery.

Actually, life in her working-class Black community and family was quite comfortable and joyful with enough roots, love, and income to shield her from the most virulent racism of the Jim Crow South. However, the city built the state-of-the- art Little Rock Central High School for White students but had to solicit private donations for the Black school, which was smaller and used hand-me-down books from the White school.

When the Supreme Court ordered school desegregation through its historic 1954 Brown v Board of Education decision, Central High, which was near her home, became an option for Ms. LaNier, and she took it. Her parents supported her decision.

Much of the book details the daily costs of her decision to attend Central High, an experience Ms. LaNier called “hell.” In the school orientation for Black students, the principal informed said that, for their safety, they had to leave the school after classes.

This meant no extracurricular activities. No sports teams, no chorus, no student government, no clubs. This caused many of the Black students who had signed up for Central to change their minds and go to Dunbar instead. The first day of school they were met by violent mobs outside the school and National Guards barring them from entering the building.

Weeks later when President Dwight Eisenhower sent U.S. Army troops to escort Ms. LaNier and her fellow students inside the school, they were met with physical and verbal assaults from a steady stream of White students. The principal prohibited them from retaliating and most of the teachers overlooked the attacks.

While black and white news reels show some of these harrowing scenes, in this book Ms. LaNier shares with readers an equally compelling account of how she felt as the actions of racists against desegregation went from bad to worse, including bombing of her home. Ms. LaNier shares with readers how and why she pushed through the daily blows to her spirit and came out on the other side.

A Mighty Long Way is an important addition to the written history of the Civil Rights Movement that may help young adults better understand our nation today.

A Mighty Long Way Study Guide

Introduction
In 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v the Topeka, Kansas, Board of Education made racially segregated public schools illegal. Prior to that, the law stated schools could be racially segregated, but equal. The court’s landmark decision in Brown established the doctrine that “separate but equal is inherently unequal.”

This ruling set the stage for the desegregation of schools the played out in Little Rock Central High School in 1957 by Ms. LaNier and her other Little Rock “comrades.”
Show students this 3-minute videos about Brown v Board of Education. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRYK4RWyUAo

Segregated Living
Have students read chapters 1-4, discuss:
What was Ms. LaNier’s daily life like
under segregation?
How was Ms. LaNier’s daily life under s
egregation different from America today?
Why did Ms. LaNier decide to go to
Little Rock Central instead of the Black school?
Show students this 3-minute synopsis of
Little Rock 9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oodolEmUg2g

Living History
Have students read and discuss chapters 4-6 then watch these short videos of Little Rock 9 telling their stories.

Carlotta Walls LaNier speaking, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLN-UhaJzGQ
Ernest Green speaks about first day of school, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk1tTCk2Kks

30 Years Later
Thirty years later on the Oprah Winfrey Show, some of the Little Rock 9 meet some of the students who tormented them at Central High. Have students view and discuss the short clip.
Show clip of Little Rock 9, now adults, meeting some of the students who tormented them in 1957, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExWmMI2gEKw

Other Resources
Eyes on the Prize clip on Little Rock, 1957, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISA6B_Pxqko
Little Rock 9 Commemorate 66 Years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0_T6aHAI0I

Yvette Moore is the author of Freedom Songs and its sequel Just Sketching, both are available on Amazon.com