6JG'TPGUV)TGGP Name: ______5VQT[ Date: ______September3,1957 Section: ______

Ernest Green was born in Little Rock, do you mean, how can I do it?’ He said, ‘You eight of us gathered at Daisy's house, but , on September 22, 1941. Green seem like such a nice kid. Why is it you want they weren’t able to contact Elizabeth. We made history as the only senior among the to go to Central and destroy our friendship?’ went by car to Central, to the corner of 14th "." He became the first That was the first time it begin to hit me that Street and Park about eight o'clock that African-American to graduate from the attending Central was not going to be as morning. When we made an attempt to previously all-white high school in May of simple when I first signed up. I was still enter the school the Guardsmen wouldn’t let 1958. committed to go but it made me understand us in and we all went home. Elizabeth didn't An active member of the community from at that time that it… it was going to mean a have a phone so that morning she was at the an early age, Green regularly attended lot to a lot of people in that city, especially other end of the school, two blocks down church. He was involved in the Boy Scouts the white folks.” 16th, where there were no friendly faces. and eventually became an Eagle Scout. He “I wasn't expecting any trouble, given the She was ended up facing the angry mob all was a student at Horace Mann High School fact that there had been other schools in by herself. before volunteering to integrate all-white Arkansas that had already been integrated. After that, we were out of school for three Central High School. Here’s his story… in Many places in Little Rock had been weeks after that. Finally the lawyers thought HIS OWN WORDS… desegregated without any problems. The that they had worked things out. The “It was in August, early August I was library and the National Guard was gone, and we made working as a locker-room attendant at a university, through the doors! However we only lasted a country club. In fact it was a Jewish country the medical half a day. A huge crowd had gathered club. In those days Jewish folks were not and law outside the school and that was about to allowed to join the white country club. I schools had break through the police barriers. About had this job, it was in the locker-room that all admitted noon, we were sent home again. When we summer as a towel attendant. I was called blacks. looked at the T.V. News that night, it looked down to the school board office one Maybe some a lot more frightening than what we had evening and informed that I was one of other folks experienced inside the school. the students selected.” like Daisy The morning, after President Eisenhower Bates knew it “I didn't know who the other students sent a thousand paratroopers to Little Rock, was going to be a big deal, but I didn’t.” were. I didn't know how large the number we went to school and we stayed! was. The first time when I got down there Schools traditionally started in Little Rock the Green persevered through a year of daily was when I met the other 8 students. Four Tuesday after Labor Day. Governor Faubus harassment by some of his fellow students. of them I knew. We grew up, lived in the came on T.V. and announced that he was At lunch one day, there had been a number same neighborhood went to the same calling out the National Guard to prevent our of white kids following us, taunting us with church, and attended the same junior high entrance into Central because he thought racist names. One of us, Minniejean Brown, school. our lives were in danger. He was doing it for was in the lunch line with me. There was this our own protection [laughter]. The troops The next morning the newspapers ran the white kid, who was much shorter than would be out in front of the school and they names of the, of the nine of us who were Minniijean, who was about five foot ten. He would bar our entrance to Central. going to Central. I'll never forget I went reminded me of a small dog yelping at back to work the next day. This young guy, Only that Monday night did I know that I somebody's leg. He called her a very he was about my age, his folks were wasn't going to be able to go to school the disgusting name, so Minnie had just picked members of the club, he came up to me next morning. Daisy called us all up and up her chili, and before I, I could even say, and said, "How can you do it?" I said, ‘What told us that we were going to go to school as ‘Minnie, why don't you tell ‘em to shut up?" a group to meet at her house That morning, Minnie had taken her chili, dumped it on this kid’s head. It was just absolute silence of both worlds. I had cracked this white [laughter]. but I figured I had accomplished in the place. The cafeteria workers, who institution, and still had all of my friends what I had come there for.” were all black, broke into applause. The who were super-supportive of what I was After graduating from high school, Green white kids didn't know what to do. It was a trying to do. attended Michigan State University, earning good feeling to see that happen. The became the first African- a bachelor's degree in 1962 and a master's principal suspended Minnie. After another American Central High graduate on May 25, degree in 1964 in sociology. He then was incident where Minnie reacted again to the 1958. One the participants in the ceremony served as the assistant US Secretary of abuse, her family moved to New York, and was Dr. Martin Luther King. I figured all I had Housing and Urban Affairs from 1977 to she finished school there. to do was walk up and receive my diploma.I 1981. He worked with the National “Being the only senior, I had given up all kept telling myself I just can't trip . I knew Association for the Advancement of Colored the activities that I had participated at once I received that diploma, I had cracked People (NAACP) , the Winthrop Rockefeller Horace Mann, you know, the school play, the ‘wall.’ One interesting thing, there was a Foundation. Today, he retired and makes the prom, and all of those kinds of things. lot of applause for the kids who received public appearances to raise money to fight Sometimes I felt isolated, but all of my scholarships, When they called my name racism. black friends at Horace Mann included me there was nothing, just the name and there in all of the activities there. I had the best was this eerie silence. Nobody clapped

Read each question carefully and choose the Best Answers (Each question is worth 14 points) 1. What was Ernest Green doing the day he found out he was chosen to be 5. Why did Arkansas Governor sent National Guard troops to stop the one of the first African student to attend previously all white Little Rock integration of Little Rock Central? Central High School? A. He believed in segregation and he was a racist. A. He was working camping with his Scout troop. B. He sent in the National Guard to because he thought the lives of B. He was working as a locker-room attendant at a Jewish country club the “Nine” were in danger. He was doing it for their own protection C. He was a his Church’s Choir practice. He was a Tenor. C. He believed that the Communists were interfering with the D. He was protesting that Jewish American students were not allowed Arkansas Governor’s Election in November 1957 to attend Horace Mann High School. D. He wanted the integration of the school to be delayed until the school was renovated in 1958 2. Why wasn’t Ernest Green expecting any trouble on September 3, 1957 when he was to be one of the first African American students to attend 6. Which one of these events did not happen to Ernest Green and the Little Rock Central High School? Little Rock Nine when they were students at Little Rock Central? A. In 1954, the US Supreme Court had ruled in Brown v. Board of A. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. attended his graduation. Education that school segregation was unconstitutional. Many B. When one of the 9, Minijean Brown retaliated when she was places, like Little Rock, refused to allow African American students verbally abused in the cafeteria, she was suspended and expelled and White students to attend the same schools. from school B. The day before school opened was Labor Day Weekend. Large C. On the first day of the new school year, angry mobs of crowds of white students were happy to see at segregationists confronted the nine students on their way to their school. Central. The protesters shouted racial slurs them C. He wasn't expecting any trouble, given the fact that there had been D. When Ernest received his diploma at Graduation, the entire other schools in Arkansas that had already been integrated. Many stadium stood up and cheered to celebrate the moment places in Little Rock had been desegregated without any problems. 7. Which one of these statements would explain why Ernest Green said D. said the the white folks were happy that Little Rock had he had the “best of both worlds” when he attended Little Rock Central? finally accepted the Brown v. Board of Ed decision. A. He made many friends at Central and still had many friends at his 3. How old was Ernest Green when he graduated from Little Rock Central old school Horace Mann. Everyone appreciated his determination. High School? B. He enjoyed taunting the white students when he was protected by A. 13 years old. C. 16 years old the soldiers from the 82 Airborne Division. B. 14 years old D. 17 years old C. When Ernest saw what was going on, he vowed to get even with 4. Ernest said, “When they called my name there was nothing, just the the racists some day when the time was right. name and there was this eerie silence?” What does “eerie” mean? D. His black friends at Horace Mann included him in all of the A. Spooky or strange, uncomfortable activities there. He had cracked this white institution (Little Rock B. Happiness or joyful Central) , and still had all of his friends who were super-supportive C. Sadness, or Depressing of what he was trying to do D. Painful, or hurtful