Many Witnesses To 1957 Event Attend 50th Anniversary
Last updated Tuesday, September 25, 2007 8:45 PM CDT in News
By Rob Moritz
THE MORNING NEWS
LITTLE ROCK -- Ozell Sutton and Gene Prescott watched Tuesday's ceremonies commemorating the 50th anniversary of the integration of Little Rock's Central High School from different perspectives.
Both men were at the school on Sept. 25, 1957, when federal troops escorted nine black students through angry white mobs into the city's all-white flagship high school. Sutton was among the throng that ushered them into the school and, along with L.C. and Daisy Bates, counseled and tutored the teenagers during a difficult school year.
Prescott was a photographer for the Arkansas Gazette and viewed history as it unfolded through the lens of his camera.
Under threatening skies Tuesday, Sutton and Prescott recalled the racism and hatred on display during the school integration crisis, and agreed that 50 years later, the city and state have changed for the better because of bravery of the nine students a half-century ago.
"It's wonderful," said Sutton, who was director of the Arkansas Council on Human Relations in the early 1960s and now lives in Atlanta.
Prescott measured Tuesday's commemorative events against the tension and turmoil he witnessed in 1957.
"There is no comparison," he said. "They are all co-mingling here now, everybody's friendly. It certainly is a change."
The two were among about 4,500 people who sat on lawn chairs on Central High's soggy front lawn during the ceremonies honoring the Little Rock Nine and commemorating the crucial role they played in a pivotal event in the civil rights struggle.
Former President Clinton, who attended the event with his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., addressed the crowd, as did each of the Little Rock Nine.
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee and retired U.S. Sen. David Pryor also were in attendance, along with several members of Congress, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
It was Eisenhower who ordered federal troops to Little Rock to enforce a federal court desegregation order and to escort the nine black students to Central High after then-Gov. Orval Faubus sent in the National Guard to block the students from entering the school.
Kempthorne called the Little Rock Nine "American heroes."
"Teenagers today live in a more perfect union," he said in an interview. "We haven't reached perfection, but we're much stronger because of the courage and bravery of young kids like the Little Rock Nine."
Eisenhower said it was a "a real honor and privilege to be here and help mark an important historical milestone."
"It's one of those pivotal moments in American history and especially one of those great American themes, which is the whole civil rights struggle," she said. "My grandfather did exactly the right thing to send the 101st Airborne and convey the strong message that this is a constitutional issue and it's a matter of that kind of importance to the United States of America."
Throughout the ceremony, Central High School senior Edayshia Tanks busily scribbled copious notes covering the event for the student yearbook.
"I can't believe it ... this is a once-in-a-life time thing and I'm doing it with a press pass," Tanks said.
"It's very exciting to see my fellow students up there," she added, pointing to an area right of the stage where more than 50 Central High School students were sitting. Another 100 seniors sat in chairs behind the stage where the Little Rock Nine, the Clintons and Gov. Mike Beebe sat.
Senior Jasmine Massey described Tuesday's events as "amazing."
"It's very important because I get to see and hear the Little Rock Nine talk about what really went on," she said. "It's very exciting to hear what happened but it's also sad to see what some people did back in the day."
John Boyle, a 1979 graduate of the high school who now lives in Austin, Texas, said he flew home just for the occasion.
"I was fortunate and blessed enough to go to an integrated school," said Boyle, who is black, noting his parents graduated from a segregated school. "Without the Little Rock Nine, I wouldn't be able to claim Central High as my alma mater."
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BCR wrote on Sep 25, 2007 10:11 PM: