Little Rock Nine Invited to Inauguration

[Are_grits_groceries]

<snip>
The invitations were offered by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, which is coordinating the swearing-in at the west front of the Capitol. U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), who suggested the Little Rock invitation, said: "The Little Rock Nine changed the course of American history. . . . They should be here, front and center."

But not all the invitees will be able to attend. Little Rock Nine member Elizabeth Eckford, 67, who still lives in the house where she grew up, said she can't afford the trip.
<snip>
Eckford was one of the nine black teenagers who braved enraged white mobs, the National Guard and the hostile governor of Arkansas to attend the then-all white high school three years after the Supreme Court declared segregated schools illegal.

The black students were harassed and hounded by white students and parents, and their struggle made headlines around the world. Minnijean Brown-Trickey, 67, of Little Rock. "I was scared to death," she said yesterday. "We didn't cry. Not a single one of us cried. Publicly."
<snip>

In September 1957, hecklers followed Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine turned away from the high school building.
Arkansas National Guardsmen were told not to let the nine black students inside. Eckford, shown below, can't afford the trip
to the District next month.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/12/AR2008121204106_2.html?hpid=topnews

The Little Rock Nine were treated horribly. Nobody should have had to go through what they did.
Glad they were invited! :patriot:

[Hekate]

1. This needs to be kicked. I have a feeling Ms. Eckford will be given a ride to this great occasion

I remember that scene so well -- that photo was in LIFE magazine. I was 10 years old that September, watching the events on b/w tv from far far away, and was so impressed with the courage of those young people.

We all owe them our thanks as a nation. :patriot:

Hekate

[ColbertWatcher]

2. Sounds like a job for Oprah. Kick and rec, n/t

[Narraback]

3. Kicked by a Mick

nt

[firedupdem]

4. I hope they can get there. I was glad to hear the Tuskegee

Airmen were invited as well. January 20th is going to be a beautiful day. We take back our government!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. I am so glad they have been invited!

I'm thinking we will have a president like none other in Obama!

K&R

:patriot:

[roguevalley]

6. someone needs to pay for her to come. God bless them. Unless

you lived it and saw it, you cannot know how awful Jim Crow and this action was. These are awesome people. There is a picture and story somewhere of Elizabeth and that girl behind her heckling her talking together now. I wish I could find it.

[FrenchieCat]

7. Those were some real heros!

Elizabeth Eckford will get there...that, I am certain of.

[Joe the Liberal]

8. K&R nt

[Mister Ed]

9. It was much worse than the "heckling" mentioned in the photo caption

I once read an account of the occasion written by one of the Little Rock Nine. He said that at one point the mob outside the school grew extremely large and threatening, and seemed ready to storm the building. The small National Guard detail assigned to protect the students was in danger of being overwhelmed.

The National Guardsmen went into an adjacent room to make plans. They didn't realize that the nine students next door could overhear them. In their desperation, the Guardsmen formed a plan to pick one of the young men in their care to serve as a sacrifice. They would lead him out the door on one side of the building and let the mob have at him. He would probably be killed, but the diversion created would allow them to lead the other eight students to safety by exiting the opposite side of the building. They reasoned that saving eight of the students was better than losing them all.

Other guardsmen argued that their mission was to protect all of the students, and not just most of them. In the end, they won out, and all nine students survived the retreat.

Nothing in my comfy white life has equipped me to fully grasp and appreciate what those young students faced. Invite them to the inauguration? Hell yes, and while you're at it, build them a monument to rival the statue of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima.

[kath]

12. Have you read "Warriors Don't Cry", by Melba Pattillo Beals, one of the nine students?

It's an amazing book, utterly heartbreaking in parts. I think it details the incident you mention, and, IIRC gives a detailed account of that entire year.
I highly recommend it. In fact, I may need to get it off the shelf and look through it again...

{on edit - the book includes lots of photos as well. Very interesting.}

[Mister Ed]

14. Thanks for the recommendation. I think I'd like to give it a read. n/t

[struggle4progress]

10. ... The following year, (Gov) Faubus closed all the high schools ...

http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/civilrights/ak1.htm

[struggle4progress]

11. ... Gloria Ray's mother lost her job in the Welfare Department after her fellow employees learned

that her daughter was “one of the nine.” Carlotta Walls’ father had to leave the state to find work as a brick mason because building contractors in Little Rock refused to hire him. Elizabeth Eckford’s mother was fired from her job at the State School for the Blind where she was a teacher ... http://ctp.facinghistory.org/stories/cilr/choices/nineandparents/03

[kath]

13. kick!