On the morning of September 23, 1957, nine African-American high school students faced an angry mob of over 1,000 whites protesting integration in front of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. As the students were escorted inside by the Little Rock police, violence escalated and they were removed from the school. The next day, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered 1,200 members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell to escort the nine students into the school. As one of the nine students remembered, "After three full days inside Central [High School], I know that integration is a much bigger word than I thought."

This event, watched by the nation and world, was the site of the first important test for the implementation of the U.S. Supreme Court's historic Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision of 1954. Arkansas became the epitome of state resistance when the governor, Orval Faubus, directly questioned the authority of the federal court system and the validity of desegregation. The crisis at Little Rock?s Central High School was the first fundamental test of the national resolve to enforce African-American civil rights in the face of massive southern defiance during the years following the Brown decision.

Little Rock Central High School was designated a unit of the National Park Service on November 6, 1998. It is located at the intersection of Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive and Park Street in Little Rock, Arkansas

 Directions 

Plane - Little Rock is serviced by the Little Rock National Airport. Direct flights are available to Little Rock from Memphis, Dallas-Fort Worth, St. Louis, and Atlanta. From the National Airport follow Interstate 440 to the Interstate 30 (north). Exit Interstate 630 to Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive. Turn right on Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive. Little Rock Central High School is located at the intersection of Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive and Park Street.

Car - From Interstate 40 Westbound and Eastbound, take Interstate 340 Southbound to Interstate 630 west. Exit on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive. Take right on Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive. Little Rock Central High School is located at the intesection of Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive and Park Street.

From Interstate 65/167 Northbound, take Interstate 630 west. Exit on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive. Take right on Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive. Little Rock Central High School is located at the intesection of Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive and Park St