Central High School

Today I drove to downtown Little Rock to visit the Central High School National Park. This is a gas station restored to look like 1957 across the street from the Visitor Center.

The high school is diagonal from the Visitor Center. Imagine going to a high school that is also a National Park. I noticed all the students had clear plastic back packs. Visitors can go on the grounds at the school but not go inside. 

This picture represents the 9 students and the National Guard man who helped them get into the school. Bill Clinton had it in his office for years before bringing it here. I was appalled at the racist people in this town. The news coverage was horrifying. The Governor of Arkansas refused to help these 9 kids get into school. President Eisenhower had to call the 101st Airborne to help. I am thankful he did that. I saw interviews with the 9 students later in life. I saw interviews with some white students later in life who did not act to help the black students and regret their lack of action. Any white student who was kind to a black student was mocked and threatened with violence.

This is at the park next to the school and the Visitor Center. There are 9 benches, one for each of the 9 black students.

Before I left I thought I would take a walk around this beautiful school.

Kids were practicing football.