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By the mid 20th century, civil rights groups were setting up both political and legal challenges to racial segregation. One of the cases that these civil rights groups used was Brown Vs. the Board of Education. In the end, the court’s ruled that segregation in schools was “inherently unequal” and Plessy vs. Ferguson was overruled. About a year later the Court ordered that school’s integrate with “deliberate speed”. (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_brown.html)
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The Little Rock School Board put out a statement that said they were going to comply with the Court’s decision. Because of the NAACP’s pressure, the Little Rock School Board adopted a plan written by the superintendent of school’s, Virgil Blossom. http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/central-high-school-integration
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May 1955- The Superintendent of Schools, Virgil Blossom, comes up with a plan to begin slowly introducing African Americans into all white schools. The board unanimously approves.
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1955-1956- The NAACP begins recruiting black children to integrate into white schools. Eventually, 9 African American students are registered into Little Rock Central High School.
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/central-high-school-integration -
Governor Orval Faubus announced that the Arkansas National Guard was being called in to keep the students safe by not allowing them to integrate into the school.
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Martin Luther King Jr. sent a telegram to the president, urging him to take a stronger stand on the crisis in Little Rock. King Jr. stated that if the federal government refused to help out with the situation, it would set integration back fifty years. (http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/telegram_from_king_to_president_eisenhower_urging_action_in_little_rock/ )
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Dwight D. Eisenhower suggested that Governor Faubus and himself meet to discuss the situation in Little Rock. After the meeting occurred each party put out a statement as to how they thought the meeting went. The president stated that the governor said he understood the constitution and wanted to obey the laws that it set.
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The mayor, Woodrow Wilson Mann sends a telegram to president Eisenhower telling of the riots and asks for federal troops to enforce integration and protect the students.
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The president sends the 101st airborne division to Little Rock. They federalizedthe 10,000 member Arkansas National Guard.
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine#cite_note-10)
