SPECIAL RESOURCE STUDY OF ROCK CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL

Photo Courtesy of Will Counts

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Minnijean Brown • Blizabeth Eckford • • Thelma Mothershed • Melba Pattillo • OloriaRay • • Jefferson Thomas • Carlotta Walls SPECIAL RESOURCE STUDY

· August 1998

LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL Little Rock,

U.S. Department of the Interior. National Park Service CONTENTS

Introduction 1 Historical Overview 3 Background 5 Establishment of Little Rock Central High School 5 Little Rock Crisis 6 Influence of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka 6 Emergence Of The Crisis: May 1954 - August 1957 7 The Crisis From August - September 1957 11 Aftermath of the Crisis 14 Little Rock Central High School Today 17 Significance of Little Rock Central High School 18 Recognition of Significance 18

Suitability/Feasibility 19 Suitability of the Site 21 Feasibility 28 Conclusion 31

Alternatives 33 Alternatives for Resource Protection and Public Use 35 Alternative A: Little Rock Central High as a National Historic Landmark 36 Management Authority 36 Boundary Recommendation 36 Resource Protection 36 Visitor Experience 36 Alternative B: Little Rock Central High as an Affiliated Area 38 Management Authority 38 Boundary Recommendation 38 Resource Protection 38 Visitor Experience 38 Alternative C: Little Rock Central High as a National Historic Site 39 Management Authority 39 Boundary Recommendation 40 Resource Protection 40 Visitor Experience 40 Visitor Experience at Little Rock 43 Interpretation and Visitor Experience Goals 45 Interpretive Themes . 45 Visitor Experience Goals 46

Public Response to the Study 51. Appendixes 53 Appendix A: Questions and Issues Raised at Meetings and Workshops 55 Appendix B: Letters of Support 59 Bibliography 70 Preparers 72 iii INTRODUCTION

Pursuant to enactment of Public Law In accordance with this legislative 105-83 (known as the Department of direction, the National Park Service has the Interior and Related Agencies prepared this special resource study for Appropriations Act, 1998; 111 Stat. Little Rock Central High School. The 1543-1627), on November 14, 1997, study includes a historical overview that Senate Report 105-56 directed that: describes and analyzes the historical significance of the school, a suitability Within the funds provided for and feasibility analysis to determine if general management plans, the school warrants inclusion in the $150,000 should be provided for a national park system, and an exami­ study to determine the suitability nation of the possible visitor experience and feasibility of designating goals and interpretive themes for the Central High School in Little Rock, site. Three alternatives that explore Arkansas, as a unit of the National potential management frameworks that Park System due to its importance would provide for resource protection in interpreting the development of and public use of the school are also the in the described and evaluated. .

Photo Courtesy of Will Counts

1 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW BACKGROUND

ESTABLISHMENT OF LITTLE ROCK tion of a new high school on a site in CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL Civitan Park at 14th and Park Streets.

The opening of Little Rock Central High Central High was designed in the Neo­ School in 1927 marked a new high Gothic Revival style by Little Rock archi­ point in the history of public education tects George R. Mann, Eugene John in the Arkansas state capital. (Until Stern, John Parks Almand, George H. 1953, it was known as Little Rock Wittenberg, and Lawson L. Delony. Senior High School.) In 1853, a decade Gordon Walker of Salina, , was after enabling legislation was passed, the general contractor for the building, the first public school was opened in while the landscape architect for the Little Rock, offering six years of free site was John Highberger of Memphis, education. The curriculum and terms of Tennessee. When it was completed in the city's public schools grew gradually; 1927, the $1.5 million, five-story, buff­ within 20 years the city offered 12 brick building, with its irregular but gen­ years of instruction. erally V-shaped plan, was the nation's largest high school and the state's Central High traces its beginning to second lafges'fslrf/¢ture, r

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In 1969 a new library-media center, that segregation in public schools at all named for Jess W. Matthews who levels was unconstitutional. While the served as principal of Central High from Brown I decision (May 17, 1954). 1945 to 1965, was constructed on reversed Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), Central's campus. Other new additions with its "" ruling on to the high school in recent years railroad accommodations, the 1954 include modern instrumental music ruling was the culmination of the legal facilities, a vocal musical center, a debate on segregation in education that guidance center, and a business had been before the courts since 1938. education facility for simulated office The Court held that to separate black practice. schoolchildren by race induces a sense of inferiority that retards educational and mental development, that "separate LITTLE ROCK CRISIS education facilities are inherently un­ equal," and that the plaintiffs were "by Influence of Brown v. Board of reason of the segregation complained Education of Topeka of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Two cases (Brown v . .Board of Amendment. " Education of Topeka), concerned with the legality. of separation by race in In the second Brown case (349 U.S. public education, reached the U.S. 294), often referred to as Brown II, on Supreme Court in 1954 and 1955. In May 31, 1955, the Court held that the the first case (347 U.S. 483). often pace of desegregation in schools was referred to as Brown I, the Court held the responsibility of school authorities,

6 would depend on the problems and Court and praising state efforts to resist conditions facing individual communi­ forced integration by lawful means. ties, and should be carried out "with all White citizens' councils sprang up in deliberate speed." After the 1955 numerous southern communities, decision, the case was returned to ostensibly to protect the constitutional federal district courts for implemen­ rights of whites, but actually to prevent tation. free access of blacks to public schools. Given a new lease on life by the mood The Supreme Court's refusal to require of resistance sweeping the South, a immediate implementation of its deci­ revived Ku Klux Klan found considerable sion in Brown and its adoption of the support among hard-core segrega­ "all deliberate speed" standard in 1955 tionists ready to commit or condone provided notice that the struggle to gain virtually any activities to preserve white the promised right to equal educational supremacy in America. opportunity would be long and difficult. Nevertheless, the Brown decision became the symbol of racial equality Emergence of the Crisis: May 1954 - and led to the dismantling of overt racial August 1957 segregation policies that marked every important public function in much of the Surprisingly, the great test for the country. It sparked major reform in resurrected doctrine of interposition racial laws, policies, and even patterns came in Little Rock. Of all southern of thought and' behavior. Moreover, it cities, Little Rock was among the least heightened the expectations of African­ likely scenes for a dramatic confron­ Americans, particularly those of an tation between state and federal power. expanding middle class, thus contribut­ This comparatively progressive upper­ ing enhanced vitality to the ongoing civil South capital city had been among the rights movement. first communities in border states and the former Confederacy to make pre­ After marking time for some months parations for compliance with the after the Brown" decision, during Brown decision. The percentage of which limited progress toward school black students in Little Rock public integration was made in the border schools was less than that of Wilming­ states and upper South, segregationists ton, Louisville, Washington, Baltimore, began actively to obstruct implementa­ or St. Louis - all of which had pre­ tion of the Supreme Court's ruling in viously abandoned "Jim Crow" educa­ early 1956. The unanticipated action of tional facilities. The Little Rock school lower courts in upholding the Supreme system also contained relatively fewer Court's ruling bred widespread panic blacks than did those of Nashville, among many southern whites and gave Charlotte, Greensboro, or Winston­ rise to a pervasive mood of defiance in Salem - the southern cities that joined the region. Politicians in Virginia urged Little Rock in desegregating in the fall of massive resistance to the Court's orders 1957. and invoked the doctrine of interposi­ tion, claiming that the state had a right One day after the May 17, 1954, to interpose its authority against an Brown decision, the Little Rock school alleged violation of the Constitution by board instructed Superintendent of the Supreme Court. One hundred Con­ Schools Virgil T. Blossom to draw up a gressmen issued a "southern manifesto" plan for compliance. Although less than in 1956, censuring the Supreme enthusiastic about the change, neither 7 Blossom nor any board member sug­ Carlotta Walls - would become known gesteddefiance of the Supreme Court's as "The Little Rock Nine," and in 1958 ruling. Later in May 1954, school they would be awarded the prestigious authorities made public their decision by the National Associ­ and announced that planning for school ation for the Advancement of Colored desegregation would begin immediately. People (NAACP).

During the following year Blossom In its final form, the Phase Program formulated and reformulated desegre­ plan, although consistent with the gation arrangements. Originally con­ gradual, token approach set out in the ceived as a plan for substantial integra­ Supreme Court's second Brown deci­ tion beginning at the grade school level, sion, contained a questionable approach the Little Rock Phase Program (Phase to the problems of desegregation. The Program plan) that emerged in May plan contained a key flaw. Desegrega­ 1955 provided for token desegregation tion was delayed until 1957 specifically starting in September 1957 at one to allow time for construction of two senior high school -Central. The sec­ new city high schools - Hall High ond phase would extend tokenism to School in west Little Rock for whites, junior high schools by 1960, with the and Horace Mann High in east Little final step of desegregation on the Rock for blacks. With the exception of elementary level tentatively scheduled limited facilities for technical training, for the fall of 1 963. A transfer provision Little Rock had traditionally operated would permit students to escape from two senior high schools - one (Dunbar) districts where their race was in the for blacks and one (Central) for whites. minority, thus assuring that the heavily Located at the corner of Eleventh Street black Horace Mann High School zone and Wright Avenue, the Paul Laurence would remain segregated. A rigid Dunbar High School had been dedicated screening process eliminated most of on April 14, 1930, to replace Gibbs those remaining black students who High School as Little Rock's black high were eligible and who wanted to attend school. During 1931-32, Dunbar the formerly white Central High School. became one of only two industrial arts By August 1957, having further reduced schools in the South to receive a junior the number of black children who might college rating. possibly attend Central High School during the 1957-58 school year, the Upon completion, Hall, located in the school board gave tentative approval for western part of the city, enrolled stu­ approximately 25 black students to dents from the Pulaski Heights area, the enroll at Central - a figure that was status residential area and home of about 10% of the number it had told Little Rock's most influential people. the federal district court would be Central, situated geographically be­ attending. By the time that school tween the two new schools and the started, it developed that only nine only school to be desegregated, was children, with their parents' consent, left with pupils drawn primarily from the decided to make the effort to attend city's lower and middle classes. This Central High School in the face of arrangement added an element of class mounting opposition. These students - conflict to the racial controversy and Minnijean Brown, , allowed segregationist spokesmen to Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, charge that integrationists were Melba Pattillo, Gloria Ray, Terrence sacrificing the common citizen while Roberts, Jefferson Thomas, and protecting the wealthy. More important, 8 it removed the center of white political figure, appeared to be the moderation from direct involvement in council's foremost leader. the desegregation efforts. During the spring of 1957, the Capital In January 1956, some 20 black Citizen's Council launched an intensive students attempted to enroll in Little propaganda campaign, disseminating Rock's white public schools. When they leaflets and sponsoring advertisements were denied admittance, the NAACP attacking integration, holding rallies filed suit in federal district court. On (three times with out-of-state speakers), August 27, 1956, in Aaron v. Cooper initiating letter writing campaigns aimed (143 F. Supp. 855; E.D. Ark. 1956), at Governor Orval E. Faubus, spreading, Judge John E. Miller rejected the and perhaps originating, rumors about NAACP's argument and upheld the impending violence, and organizing Phase Program plan on the grounds that crowds to disrupt public meetings of the it was in compliance with the Supreme school board. The segregationists' most Court's second Brown decision. He persistent demand was for Faubus to retained jurisdiction of the suit in the intervene to prevent violence and pre­ event that further questions might arise serve dual segregated school systems in during the course of the plan's imple­ the state capital. mentation. The NAACP appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals The appearance of Governor Marvin for the Eighth Circuit, and on April 29, Griffin and Roy Harris of Georgia, 1957, the appellate court unanimously frequent orators on the Citizens' Council affirmed Miller's ruling (243 F. 2d. 361; circuit throughout the South, at a C.A. 8, 1957). council fund-raising banquet in Little Rock on August 22 was one of the During the next several months, the more publicized events in the summer­ Capital Citizens' Council, later assisted long war of nerves. Assuring listeners by the League of Central High School that Georgia would not allow school Mothers, aggressively promoted public integration, the two featured speakers opposition to desegregation. Although a called upon Arkansas to join in the member of the Arkansas Association of support for white supremacy and the Citizens' Councils, the Capital Citizens' defense of segregation. On August 20, chapter was a local movement which two days prior to the dinner, Faubus drew its greatest popular support from had telephoned Griffin to request that working-class districts, although it he refrain from advocating violent action enjoyed sympathy from substantial while in Arkansas. When Griffin gave numbers of other white citizens, particu­ assurances, the Arkansas governor larly those in lower-class neighborhoods invited the visiting Georgia governor to and in lower-status, middle-class areas. stay overnight in the executive mansion. Ministers, lawyers, and occasional Although the conversations between independent businessmen were most the two men and the Arkansas governor prominent among the organization's allegedly concerned topics other than leadership. Ministers, mainly of the segregation, the Georgians' visit proved Missionary Baptist denomination, were to be one of several effective Capital probably the most active single group. Citizens' Council propaganda strokes. Robert E. Brown, publicity director for a Faubus testified shortly afterward that Little Rock radio-television station, was people were approaching him and chapter president in 1957, but Amis asking why Arkansas had integration if Guthridge, an attorney and states' right Georgia did not. 9 ------_ .. . ----

As a result of these developments, the social reaction spreading across the approaching integration of Central High South made racial issues too immediate School emerged as a highly politicized to be ignored. In January 1956, Faubus event that was not merely a local released the results of a public opinion school administrative issue. Fearing poll that showed that a large majority of difficulties and perhaps becoming aware Arkansas citizens were opposed to of their exposed position, school au­ integration. At the same time, he made thorities began a desperate search for his first detailed statement on racial support of their desegregation plan. issues during his 13-month tenure in During the summer of 1 957, Blossom office, declaring that he would not be a conferred frequently with Little Rock party in any attempt to force accept­ Chief of Police Marvin H. Potts, an ance of change on people so over­ opponent of desegregation who, whelmingly opposed to change. Faubus although promising to maintain law and encouraged local communities to work order, showed little enthusiasm and was out plans of action in accordance with apparently hesitant to make specific the needs of their school districts and commitments. The superintendent and the demand of their patrons and prom­ School Board President William G. ised that the force of the governor's Cooper, Jr., appealed to Federal District office would be used to defend the Judge John E. Miller asking for a public decisions of the individual school pronouncement pointing out to potential districts in the state. Shortly thereafter, troublemakers the consequences of he endorsed the work of an unofficial obstructing the court-approved committee studying problems posed by desegregation plans, but the judge the Supreme Court ruling. The c9mmit­ refused. tee, composed entirely of East Arkansas (Eastern Arkansas had the highest Blossom then turned to Governor concentrations of blacks in the state, Faubus, requesting that the governor and thus its schools were the ones issue a public statement promising to most significantly affected by the maintain order and to permit no obstruc­ Brown decision) spokesmen, recom­ tion to integration, thus making the mended a locally administered pupil state responsible for peaceful school assignment measure and a protest desegregation in Little Rock. After interposition resolution. The proposed Faubus refused to issue such a state­ pupil placement act delegated to district ment, Blossom, accompanied by school authorities the task of assigning members of the school board, made pupils to schools according to certain repeated attempts to press the governor criteria. With Faubus' backing, both for a commitment. Anxious to justify . measures became law by initiative their request, school spokesmen prob­ petition. ably exaggerated the dangers of public disorder by reiterating fears that outside During the 1956 gubernatorial primary, agitators might converge on Little Rock Faubus' chief opponent was White to disrupt desegregation as they had in Citizens' Council organizer James D. the northeastern Arkansas town of Johnson who rested his primary appeal Hoxie in 1955. to Arkansas voters on racial dema­ goguery. Since the election campaign However, the publicity resulting from developed no other issue, Faubus turned Hoxie's desegregation difficulties, to a more positive defense of segrega­ effective agitation by white supremacy tion. Although he denounced Johnson organizations, and the growing mood of and another staunchly segregationist 10 candidate as "hate preachers," Faubus Faubus, expressing fear of violence, repeatedly promised that there would be questioned the Justice Department no forced integration of public schools representative about federal assis.tance in the state during his governorship. in the event of trouble. Caldwell could Faubus handily won in the first primary only explain that the Eisenhower admin­ by polling more votes than his four . istration did not wish to get involved opponents combined. Thus, the election and would assUme no advance respon­ results seemed to indicate that the sibility for maintaining order. The Eisen­ governor' s "common man" approach hower administration compounded and racial "moderation" were pleasing Faubus' problems by allowing a report to a solid majority of Arkansas' citizens. on the confidential conversation with Caldwell to leak to the press, and In practice, Arkansas followed a laissez­ Faubus reacted angrily when reporters fa ire policy toward compliance with the asked about the talks. The governor Brown decision prior to the autumn of observed that the federal government 1 957, leaving each school district to was "cramming integration down our work out its own racial problems. Under 'throats" and then demanding that we this arrangement, five Arkansas com­ "protect ourselves while we're carrying munities desegregated, and five more out their orders." were planning to do so in 1957. After the conference with Caldwell, the governor helped initiate, and testified in The Crisis from August - September support of, a Mothers' League petition 1957 asking an. Arkansas chancery court to enjoin school authorities from carrying Little Rock, however, interrupted the out planned desegregation at Central state's policy of drift. Here, school High. Faubus informed the court that authorities and organized segrega­ violence was likely if immediate integra­ tionists -the effective voices of both tion were attempted in the increasingly the proponents and the enemies of tense city. Relying heavily upon the desegregation - insisted that the governor's testimony, the chancery governor take action to preserve order. court judge issued the injunction on Faubus found himself in a dilemma, August 29. The following day, how­ having promised not to force integration ever, federal district court Judge Ronald upon an unwilling community and at the Davies injunction voided the chancery same time having indicated an intention court order. not to subvert federal law with state action. Fearful of being pushed to the With the school opening date fast unpopular side of a major racial contro­ approaching, Faubus had to choose his versy, Faubus maneuvered to avoid course of action. On September 1, taking a stand at Little Rock during the 1957, he announced publicly that he last days of August 1957. had no plans concerning Little Rock and privately indicated that he intended to Faubus first invited the administration of let city officials deal with the problem. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to ac­ That night he had a long talk with cept the burden. The Department of Superintendent Blossom, who again Justice responded to Faubus' inquiry by impressed upon Faubus the necessity sending Arthur B. Caldwell, head of its for state support. Faubus refused to civil rights section, to Arkansas to meet make the commitment, hinting instead with the governor on August 28. that he might intervene to block the 11 school board's desegregation plans. The the building only to be refused admit­ governor did act on the next day by tance by armed guardsrnen. Elizabeth ordering the State Militia of the Eckford arrived later by bus and was , which had met by a jeering mob as she alighted been alerted earlier, to prevent desegre­ from the bus at 14th and Park Streets. gation at Central High School. Appear­ Seeing the guardsmen a block or so ing on television that evening, he away, she hurried in their direction. She explained that the rnission of the was not allowed to pass the soldiers soldiers was "to maintain or restore and was forced to return through the order and to protect the lives and growing mob to her bus stop. Members property of citizens." During the of the mob crowded around her with emotion-packed weeks that followed, taunting remarks, and she proceeded in Fau bus insisted that he was not inter­ the direction of Ponder's Drug Store at posing state authority to defy a federal the corner of Park and Sixteenth Streets court order. He reiterated that he was to escape. A store employee saw her neither opposing integration nor coming and locked the door. She then defending segregation, and he stated went and sat on a bench at the bus repeatedly that he acted only to prevent stop with a howling mob around her. violence. Nevertheless, he had com­ Finally, aided by a sympathetic white mitted himself to a segregationist woman, .she boarded a city bus to leave course of action, and finding that his the area. actions rode a wave of popularity, he found his range of political maneuvering School officials returned to court on sharply narrowed. During the weeks September 5, petitioning Judge Davies that followed, he became increasingly for a temporary suspension of deseg­ demagogic and irresponsible. regation calling attention to the devel­ oping tension and antagonism which, it Governor Faubus dispatched the Na­ felt, would disrupt education at the tional Guard and state police units to school. Hearings on this request were Central High School on Monday, Sep­ held on September 7, and Judge Davies tember 2. That evening Blossom and rejected the board's plea that same day. the school board released a public Two days later, Davies ordered the U.S. statement asking the nine black children Attorney General to file a petition im­ scheduled to begin classes with their mediately for an injunction against approximately 1,900 white schoolmates Faubus and two officers of the Arkan­ the next morning to remain at home sas National Guard. The Department of until the legal issues of school integra­ Justice filed the petition on September tion had been settled. The guardsmen 10, and Davies set the hearing for ten turned back the black employees at days hence. Central High School, while the board, . now trapped between national and state During the period between September 2 power, appealed to the federal district and September 20, the Eisenhower court in Little Rock for instructions. administration watched indecisively as Judge ordered the board National Guard troops maintained to carry out its desegregation plan. segregation at Central High School in defiance of federal authority. Not until On September 4, eight of the black September 5 did the president make a children, together with a group of black firm statement that "the federal and white ministers, went to Central Constitution will be upheld by me by High School and attempted to approach every legal means at my command." 12 This pronouncement, however, was southern governors' conference, qualified the following day when an predicting that violence would result if administration spokesman assured desegregation were attempted. reporters that Eisenhower still opposed the use of federal troops to enforce The precipitous removal of the soldiers court orders. left Little Rock to rely upon its own resources in dealing with what had now Meanwhile, the National Guard become a dangerously tense situation. remained at Central High School The city had the weekend of September watching the curious crowds that in 21-22 to prepare for the beginning of turn had gathered to watch them. In a desegregation on Monday, September telegram to Eisenhower, Faubus stated 23. During this period, Mayor Mann his suspicions that federal agents were attempted to support the school admin­ not only tapping his telephone lines but istration, releasing a statement calling were also "discussing plans to take into for peaceful acceptance of integration custody, by force, the head of a sov­ and warning that peace officers would ereign state." While the governor deal sternly with illegal interference. By dramatically surrounded the executive this time, however, Mann's authority mansion with guardsmen, U.S. had collapsed. He was. unable to control Congressman sought a his own administration, and no Little negotiated settlement of the impasse Rock civic club or any other element of and arranged a meeting between civic leadership offered support to the Eisenhower and Faubus at Newport, beleaguered mayor. The police depart­ Rhode Island, on September 14. The ment agreed to maintain order but re­ meeting ended inconclusively, and race fused to escort black children to Central relations deteriorated in Little Rock as High School. The city appealed to both sentiment hardened on all sides. Judge Davies and the Justice Depart­ ment for federal marshals to escort the On Friday, September 20, the federal black students, but both refused. The district court began hearings on the . fire department balked at providing hose Department of Justice's petition for an equipment, although police officials injunction against Governor Faubus and made it clear that success in mob the National Guard officers. The gov­ control depended largely on "the supple­ ernor's attorney immediately presented mentary use of water." Thus the lead­ arguments that the district court had no erless city slipped toward violence. right to question a chief executive's judgment in relation to "the perfor­ Desegregation began under the protec­ mance of his constitutional duties" and tion of the undermanned and ill-prepared that Davies should disqualify himself for city police on Monday morning, Sep­ lack of impartiality. When the judge tember 23. The black students entered dismissed the motion, Faubus' attorneys Central High School, but by lunchtime demanded and received permission to the mob of some 1 ,000 whites outside depart. The hearings continued despite had become so large and belligerent the absence of the defense. Later that that apprehensive school and city ad­ day, Davies issued a petition enjoining ministrators, fearful lest there be Faubus, the National Guard com­ bloodshed, ordered the removal of the manders, and any of their agents from black. students by a side exit. That further obstructing desegregation in afternoon Mann asked the Eisenhower Little Rock. Faubus promptly removed administration for federal troops to the guardsmen and departed for the restore order. Eisenhower issued 13 Proclamation 3204 (22 F.R. 7628) escort. On November 27, the last of the commanding "all persons engaged in Regular Army forces were withdrawn, such obstruction of justice to cease and leaving a shrinking detachment of fed­ desist therefrom, and to disperse forth­ eralized guardsmen in control until the with." Although the black students did commencement of the school year on not appear at Central High School on May 29,1958. September 24, a crowd, though smaller and less violent than the one the day By this time, Little Rock had become before, reformed. The situation in Little the hub of southern resistance to racial Rock remained explosive. Mann, after desegregation. The city gained inter­ several telephone conversations with national media attention as it became a Justice Department officials, sent a mecca to be visited by segregationist telegram to Eisenhower officially asking speakers from throughout the South. for federal intervention. Later that day, Race relations worsened, and the Capi­ the president issued Executive Order tal Citizens' Council assumed a major 10730 (22 F.R. 7628) which provided voice in urban affairs. Governor Faubus "Assistance for the Removal of an demonstrated a growing penchant for Obstruction of Justice Within the State demagoguery, filling the media with of Arkansas." The order federalized the accusations such as the charge that National Guard and ordered the Sec­ soldiers were entering the girls' retary of Defense to employ the Ark­ physical-education dressing rooms at ansas soldiers as well as federal troops the high school. to enforce the federal district court order. Within hours some 200 soldiers of the 327th Airborne Battle Group of Aftermath of the Crisis: 1957 - 1959 the 101 st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, arrived in Little Integrated classes at Central High Rock, encamping on the athletic fields continued throughout the 1957-58 behind Central High School. school year. Despite the continued presence of the federalized National The following morning, September 25, Guard, there were problems at Central the federal troops surrounded Central High. The nine black children attending High, while a small detachment went to Central High were subjected to an end­ the home of Mr. and Mrs. L. C. Bates, less campaign of harassment. More who had moved to Little Rock in 1941 than 100 white students were sus­ to establish the , a pended and four were expelled for such black newspaper, and were leaders of activities, while one of the black girls the Little Rock chapter of the NAACP. was expelled. Nevertheless, integration At the Bates residence they picked up was achieved, and in May 1958, Ernest the nine black teenagers. After a short Green, who would become an assistant drive to the high school, the youngsters secretary of labor and is currently a formed a single file and, surrounded by managing director at a major investment soldiers carrying rifles with bayonets firm in Washington, D.C., became the fixed, marched through a jeering" crowd first black to graduate from Central into Little Rock Central High School to High. begin the fall school term. During the 1957-58 school year, Fau­ For nearly a month, while a sullen calm bus continued to confront federal settled over the city, the nine black authority, and in January 1958 he children attended school with a troop declared that "the Supreme Court 14 decision is not the law of the land." bills recommended. The special session This was the first time that he had added 14 new laws to the Arkansas publicly questioned the legal validity of legislative arsenal. However, Faubus the Brown decision. In his quest for the delayed signing them until the U.S. Democratic gubernatorial renomination, Supreme Court refused an opportunity Faubus campaigned against the federal to retreat from the principle of the government, outsiders in general, the Brown decision. NAACP, and the , as well as against two moderate oppo­ Earlier the Little Rock school board had nents and a number of prominent petitioned the federal courts for a 2-1/2- politicians supporting them. year delay in the implementation of the integration order. The board argued that In July 1958, Faubus won an almost actions by the state government, com­ unprecedented third term, obtaining munity hostility, and the turmoil of the almost 70% of the ballots and carrying 1957-58 school year had made orderly every county in the state. His margin of education on a desegregated basis im­ victory was so great that the Arkansas possible. On June 20, federal district Gazette editorialized that the moderate court judge Harold E. Lemley granted position "has been rejected by the mass the delay, but the NAACP appealed of voters in this upper Southern state immediately. After a series of procedural and is now clearly untenable for any maneuverings, the court of appeals man in public life anywhere in the overturned Lemley's decision. The region." In the same election, former school board then appealed to the U.S. Citizens' Council President James Supreme Court, and in August, the Johnson won nomination for a seat on Court agreed to hold a special session the Arkansas Supreme Court, and, in to consider the question (only the third November, , a segregationist such term in modern history). The on the Little Rock school board, com­ school board therefore delayed the pleted the rout of the moderates by opening of school for the 1958 fall term beating incumbent Brooks Hays for a while both the Arkansas legislature and seat in Congress. Claiming that the the Supreme Court met in extraordinary election demonstrated the voters' sessions to decide the fate of deseg­ approval of his efforts "to retain the regation in Little Rock. On September rights of a sovereign state as set out in 12, 1958, the Court issued its landmark the federal constitution," Faubus decision Cooper v. Aaron (358 U.S. 1, reported that he had new plans for 78 S. Ct. 1401), denying the stay and continuing the struggle with federal ordering the school board to proceed authority. with its gradual integration program in compliance with the integration order Events moved rapidly in Arkansas given by Judge Miller in 1956. Governor during late August and September Faubus immediately signed the afore­ 1958. Calling a special session of the mentioned 14 bills into law and released legislature, he recommended measures a proclamation on September 13 closing to strengthen the state's authority over all of Little Rock's high schools. the public school system, the most important of which was a bill author­ On September 27, 1958, the city's izing the Arkansas governor to close voters endorsed the governor's action in any school by proclamation. Convening a speCial election. Less than 30% of the on August 26 in a crisis atmosphere, electorate favored "For racial integration the legislators promptly approved all the of all schools within the Little Rock 15 School District" as the option for to terminate the contracts of 34 teach­ reopening the closed schools listed on ers, 2 principals, 5 other administrative the ballot. Faubus assured voters that officials, and 3 secretaries. the high schools could be promptly reopened as segregated, private institu­ Little Rock moderates, having failed to tions, but federal district and Eighth rally effectively behind the cause of Circuit Court injunctions prohibited public education, now had a new issue. transfer of the school buildings and Local PT As, other school organizations, equipment to private groups. The circuit and the Women's Emergency Com­ court order, handed down on November mittee (WEC) to Open Our Schools, led 10,1958, followed close on the heels by Mrs. Adolphine Terry, initiated the of Congressman Brooks Hays' failure to antipurge movement. The Women's win reelection in the Little Rock con­ Emergency Committee, a middle-class gressional district. After buying up organization established at the Terry Superintendent 's con­ Mansion (presently the Decorative Arts tract, all the board members except Museum, a part of the Arkansas Arts Congressman-elect Dale Alford Center, in Little Rock) to support an resigned. On December 6, 1958, Little open-schools vote in the September Rock elected a new school board. The referendum, now numbered more than massive resistance forces, led by the 1,000 members. Important Little Rock Capital Citizens' Council and supported business leaders were already publicly by Faubus, put up one slate of candi­ committed to the reopening of schools, dates, while a group of Little Rock and they gave strong support to the businessmen recruited an alternate anti purge movement. Earlier In March ticket which took a more "moderate" 1959, the Little Rock Chamber of position in the campaign. The voters Commerce, alarmed by the negative chose three board members from each impact the school controversy was group, resulting in a hopelessly divided having on the city's economy, released board. a formal statement of policy. While expressing faith in segregation, the During the early months of 1959, Little statement defended the rule of law and Rock drifted - its high schools closed the importance of public education. It and its citizens torn between the racial called for the schools to be reopened on extremism institutionalized by the Capi­ a desegregated basis. Three days after tal Citizens' Council and a growing the purge of the schoolteachers, the voice of moderation. After a number of WEC, along with 179 Little Rock busi­ school teachers and administrators ness and civic leaders, organized the incurred the wrath of white supremacy Committee to Stop This Outrageous elements due to their generous treat­ Purge (STOP). The group issued a ment of black students at Central High statement demanding the recall of the School the previous school year, the three segregationist board members and school board took up the question of undertook to circulate recall petitions .. teacher contracts at its May 5, 1959, meeting. The three segregationist The Capital Citizens' Council, the members wanted to dismiss the offend­ Mothers' League, and the newly formed ing employees, while the three moder­ States' Rights Council countered by circulating petitions for the recall of the ate members favored rehiring all school three moderate board members. Within personneL After lengthy debate, the days both STOP and the segregationists three moderates walked out, and the had enough signatures to force three segregationist members proceeded elections for all six seats on the board. 16 STOP led the moderate campaign, while When the schools reopened in 1959, the segregationists created the Commit­ they did so under a pupil assignment tee to Retain Our Segregated Schools desegregation plan, in which attendance (CROSS) to lead their election effort. zone lines were redrawn to enhance desegregation. This arrangement was Although Faubus intervened late in the maintained until 1964, when the district campaign on the side of the segrega­ instituted a "freedom of choice" plan tionists, the hard fought election on allowing students in all grades to attend May 25 resulted in a decisive victory for the school of their choice if space was the moderates. The three anti-Faubus available. board members, basing their moderate campaign on a program promoting order, stability, and economic growth of LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL the city, retained their seats, while the TODAY three segregationist members were recalled. This represented the first time Since the fall term of the 1959-60 that Governor Faubus had been deci­ school year, Central High has been sively beaten ona matter pertaining to operated as a three-year public high race and the public schools. school with an average enrollment of approximately 1,800 students and a During June 1959, the Little Rock faculty of 11 5 . Today, it. is the largest school board, now composed of three of six high schools in the Little Rock moderates and two new members School District and the only one located appointed by the county board of in the inner city. The school has a black education, voted to strike the May 5 principal. and the student body repre­ session completely from the record and sents a cross-section of the community, discussed reopening the high schools in drawing from the most affluent areas of the fall. At its next meeting, the board Little Rock, as well as from a broad announced formally that the schools swath of middle- and low-income areas. would be reopened on a basis accept­ Racially, 62 % of the student body is able to the federal courts. On June 18, black, 36% are white, and 2% are a three-judge federal district court "other:' mainly Asian. Central has declared the Arkansas school-closing served the metropolitan area for many and funds-withholding laws unconsti­ years as an unofficial magnet school. tutional and ordered the city school and it now houses an International board to proceed with its original Studies Magnet component within the desegregation plan. school curriculum. The school offers approximately 125 courses, including Little Rock peacefully desegregated its 1 3 advanced placement courses and six white public high schools on August foreign language courses. 12,1959. Although Faubus stated that he remained opposed to "forced" deseg­ Central High School is considered a regation, the school board received national model in the field of human organized public support. The city relations. It is a participant in the Model government, breaking a long silence, Schools Program sponsored by the announced that disorder and lawless­ National Governors Ass.ociation. In ness would not be tolerated. The police 1990 when the Little Rock school board department, now capably led and was making a list of the strengths and properly prepared, dealt firmly and weaknesses in its system, Central High promptly with public disturbances. was listed as the No. 1 strength of the Thus, the Little Rock desegregation school district. crisis came to an end.

17 SIGNIFICANCE OF LITTLE ROCK resistance. Bowing to the influence of CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL segregationist and state sovereignty proponents, Faubus threw up sudden, Little Rock Central High, the symbol of crude barricades against national law the end of racially segregated public and created a major constitutional crisis. schools in the United States, was the Nevertheless, the controversy ultimately site of the first important test for demonstrated tlje futility of directly implementation of the U.S. Supreme defying federal court orders by Court's historic Brown v. Board of graphically illustrating the economic Education of Topeka decision of May costs of total resistance to social 17, 1954, declaring that segregation in change. Little Rock was the most public education was an unconstitu­ decisive test of American federalism tional violation of the "equal protection during the 1950s. of the laws" clause in the Fourteenth Amendment. The incidents at the high school during the fall of 1957 drew RECOGNITION OF SIGNIFICANCE international attention. Little Rock became the epitome of state-resistance Little Rock Central High School was when Arkansas Governor OrvalE. listed on the National Reg ister of Faubus questioned the sanctity of the Historic Places on August 19, 1977, federal court system and the validity of under criterion A .(because of its the Supreme Court's desegregation association with events that have made ruling and challenged the executive a significant contribution to the broad branch of the federal government either patterns of American history) and to come to the rescue of the courts or . criteria consideration G (because it permit a fundamental deviation from the achieved significance within the course of American federalism. Even previous 50 years). On May 20, 1982, more significant, the Little Rock it was designated a national historic controversy was the first fundamental landmark. test of the national resolve to enforce black civil rights in the face of massive On August 16, 1996, the Central High southern defiance during the period School Neighborhood Historic District following the Brown decision. When was listed on the national register under President Dwight D. Eisenhower was criterion A because of its association compelled by the magnitude of white with events that have made a signifi­ mob violence to use federal marshals cant contribution to the broad patterns and troops to ensure the right of black of American history (area of significance children to attend the previously all­ - community planning and develop­ white Little Rock Central High School, ment) and criterion C because of its he became the first president since the architectural characteristics and qualities post-Civil War Reconstruction period to with local significance. Within the use federal force in support of black historic district, 417 buildings were civil rights. determined to be contributing to the district's significance, while 401 As a result of the Little Rock contro­ buildings were classified as noncon­ versy, the city became the symbol of tributing. The historic district listing was southern racist reaction. Furthermore, amended on January 17, 1997, to the controversy sharpened political include the Wright Avenue Christian antagonisms in the South, reestablishing Church (now known as the Church of the front lines of massive resistance in the Living God) at .1850 South Park the upper South and becoming an Street. . integral part of the course of massive

18 SUITABILITY / FEASIBILITY SUITABILITY OF THE SITE

While Little Rock Central High School's hours reduced. Thus, the long-term national significance has been recog­ availability of public visitor facilities is nized, any proposed site must also be uncertain. evaluated against criteria for suitability and feasibility before consideration for To evaluate the suitability of Little inclusion in the national park system. Central High School for inclusion in the national park system, other sites in the To be suitable for inclusion in the country were examined to determine the national park system, an area must extent of representation of sites related represent a theme that is not already to the historic theme of the civil rights adequately represented in the system or movement that are preserved and . is not comparably represented and interpreted. That list includes the protected by another public agency. following. Adequacy of representation is deter­ mined on a case-by-case basis by comparing the proposed area to other RELATED HISTORIC SITES units of the national park system for differences or similarities in the char­ National Park Service Units acter, quality, quantity, or combination of resources, and opportunities for Booker T. Washington National public appreciation. Monument (Hardy, Virginia). This site was the birthplace and early childhood Various partners in the Little Rock area home of the famous African-American already are working to preserve the leader and educator. resources of Central High School and are attempting to provide public educa­ Boston African-American National tional opportunities to learn about the Historic Site (Boston, Massachusetts). school's stories. Little Rock schools The site contains 15 pre-Civil War maintain Central High School in gen­ African-American history structures, erally good condition. Central High linked by the 1.6-mile Black Heritage Museum, Inc., a private organization, Trail. The meeting house is the oldest, operates a visitor center in a converted standing, African-American church in gas station across from the school. the United States. Augustus Saint­ However, little is being done to pro­ Gaudens' memorial to Robert Gould actively ensure preservation of the Shaw, the white officer who first led cultural landscape in the school African-American troops during the Civil environs. Historic preservation is not the War, is located along the trail. primary mission of the school district. Brown v. Board of Education National Further, Central High Museum, Inc., Historic Site (Topeka, Kansas). The only has enough funds to operate the 1954 landmark Supreme Court decision existing visitor center through June in Brown v. Board of Education that 1999. The future of the facility after concluded that "separate educational this is uncertain. It is possible that the facilities are inherently unequal" and museum board could receive additional constituted a violation of the equal gr,<.mts to keep the facility open, or it protection of the laws clause of the might have to be closed or have its Fourteenth Amendment led to the end 21 f r ~~:.' .-;.~~, .. ,-.~~ ! ,~~:- \: ..... "~:,:-.,~,; CD Brown v. Board of Education NHS @ Mary McLeod Bethune Council House NHS ® Jefferson National Expansion Memorial @ M Street High School ® Dunbar High School @ John Philip Sousa Junior High School @ National Civil Rights Museum @ Maggie L. Walker NHS ® Birmingham Civil Rights Institute @ Booker T. Washington NM ® Sixteenth Street Baptist Church ® Hampton Institute (j) Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail @ High School ® Dexter Avenue Baptist Church @ Liberty Hill Baptist Church ® 1\Jskegee Institute NHS @ Summerton School @) Boston African American NHS @ Scotts Branch School @ Louis Redding House @ Martin Luther King, Jr" NHS @ Howard High School @ William Spencer Industrial High School @ NHS

RELATED HISTORICAL SITES Little Rock Central High • Arkansas u.s. Department of the Interior· National Park Service DSC • JUL 98 • _ • 20003 637 ON MICROFILM of in the public a bank president and a leading figure in schools of the United States. That the Richmond African-American decision is commemorated at Monroe community. School, 1515 Monroe Street. This is the segregated school attended by Linda Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Brown, who was represented before the Site (Atlanta, Georgia). The birthplace, Supreme Court by , church, and grave of Dr. Martin Luther later the first African-American to sit on King, Jr., civil rights leader during the the Court. This school symbolized the .. 1950s and 1960s, are the principal harsh reality of discrimination in educa­ sites in this park. The neighborhood also tional facilities under the "separate but includes the Martin Luther King, Jr., equal" doctrine prior to the Court's Center for Nonviolent Social Change, historic decision. The park was estab­ Inc. The surrounding 68.19-acre pres­ lished not only to commemorate the ervation district includes Sweet Auburn, Brown decision proper but also to the economic and cultural center of interpret the integral role of that deci­ Atlanta's African-American community sion in the history of the civil rights since the 1920s. movement. Mary McLeod Bethune Council House Frederick Douglass National Historic Site National Historic Site (Washington, (Washington, D.C.). From 1877 to D. C). This is the headquarters of the 1895, this site was the home of the National Council of Negro Women, nation's leading 19th-century African­ established by Mary McLeod Bethune in American spokesman. Douglass was a 1935. It commemorates Bethune's leader in the effort to abolish slavery leadership in the black women's rights prior to the Civil War, and after the war movement from 1943 to 1949. Bethune he was active in the struggle to ensure was a founder of Bethune-Cookman that the newly-freed slaves would enjoy College in Florida. the full measure of their civil rights under the Constitution. Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail (Alabama). This 54-mile trail com­ Jefferson National Expansion Memorial memoratesa 1965 voting rights march (St. Louis, Missouri). This park on St. led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Louis' Mississippi riverfront includes the marchers walked along U.S. Highway Old Courthouse where Dred Scott sued 80 from Brown Chapel African Metho­ for freedom in the historic slavery case. dist Episcopal Church in Selma, Ala­ In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled bama, to the state capitol in Montgom­ in Dred Scott v. Sandford that Scott ery. The march helped inspire passage was not a citizen of the United States of voting rights legislation signed by or the state of Missouri, and thus was President Lyndon Johnson on August 6, not entitled to sue in the federal courts. 1965. The ruling also stipulated that Scott's temporary residence in free territory had Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site not made him free upon his return to (Tuskegee, Alabama). Booker T. Wash­ Missouri. ington founded this college for African­ Americans in 1881. The college remains Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site an active institution, and the site in­ (Richmond, Virginia). This house at 110 cludes the brick buildings the students 1/2 E. Leigh Street was the home of an constructed themselves, Washington's ex-house slave's daughter who became home, and the George Washington 23 Carver Museum, which serves as the and the site of the Ku Klux Klan bomb­ visitor center. ing in 1963 that killed four girls attend­ ing Sunday School. '

National Historic Landmarks M Street High School (Washington, D. C.). The M Street High School repre­ Dexter Avenue Baptist Church sents one of the finest educational (Montgomery, Alabama). The original facilities for African-Americans con­ headquarters of the Montgomery structed during the early 20th century. Improvement Association, headed by Faculty members provided academic Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which training in the liberal arts rather than the carried out a successful boycott of industrial arts, and encouraged African­ segregated city buses in 1955, thus American students to pursue graduate initiating what would become known as and professional education at leading the modern-day civil rights movement in American universities and to break the United States. down society's racial barriers. Carter G. Woodson and Hampton Institute (Hampton, Virginia). are among the school's most illustrious Now a liberal arts college, the institute graduates. was founded by the American Mis­ sionary Society in 1868 to offer voca­ Dunbar High School (Little Rock, tional education to former slaves. Arkansas). Opened in the autumn of Booker T. Washington, founder of 1929, this high school was named for Tuskegee Institute, was a graduate. Paul Laurence Dunbar, a noted African­ American poet during the early 20th century. Hailed as the finest high school Sites Listed on the National Register of in the South for African-American stu­ Historic Places dents, the school was the first industrial arts-academic high school for African­ Howard High School (Wilmington, American students in Little Rock. Delaware). The school is significant for its role in the 1951 Gebhardt v. Belton school desegregation case in New Sites not Listed on the National Register Castle County, Delaware. Ethel Belton of Historic Places led the petition drive for African­ American students in Claymont, a John Philip Sousa Junior High School Wilmington suburb, to attend a local (Washington, D.C.). In 1950. Garner white high school rather than commute Bishop led a campaign to integrate John to Wilmington to attend the black Philip Souza Junior High School, which Howard High School. Gebhardt v. had been reserved for white students Belton would later become one of the living in southeast Washington, D.C. school desegregation cases before the James Nebrit, an attorney for the Supreme Court when it rendered its NAACP Legal Defense and Educational historic Brown decision. Fund, filed a lawsuit, Bolling v. Sharpe, to effect the integration of the District's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church public schools. This case would later (Birmingham, Alabama). The Sixteenth become one of the school desegregation Street Baptist Church is located next cases before the Supreme Court when it door to the National Civil Rights Insti­ rendered its historic Brown decision. tute. A center for civil rights activities 24 Liberty Hill Baptist Church (Clarendon depicting police dogs, water cannons, County, South Carolina). The majority and jailed children. of meetings associated with the grass­ mots movement to desgregate the National Civil Rights Museum (Memphis, public schools in South Carolina were Tennessee). This museum, developed conducted in this Clarendon County through a cooperative private and public church. Rev. J .A. De Laine, pastor of funding effort; offers an elaborate set of the church, and the local African interpretive displays, including audiovis­ Methodist Episcopal Church pastor ual and interactive techniques relating to solicited support from African- American civil rights endeavors in the United residents in the Summerton area to States. The museum is housed within challenge discriminatory treatment in the facade of the Lorraine Motel where the area's public school system. As the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assas­ principle African-American leader, De sinated in 1968. The room where King Laine recruited plaintiffs and received was staying and the balcony where he legal aid from the NAACP for litigation was shot have been preserved. of the Briggs v. Elliott case that would later become one of the school deseg­ Robert Russa Moton High School regation cases before the Supreme (Farmville, Virginia). This school served Court when it rendered its historic as a segregated high school for African­ Brown decision. Americans in Prince Edward County, Virginia. Overcrowding had reached Louis Redding House (Wilmington, crisis levels by 1951, resulting in a Delaware). Louis Redding, counsel for student protest strike led by Barbara the plaintiffs in Gebhardt v. Belton, lived Johns. Student action soon led to in this home during the litigation of the formal litigation in Davis v. County landmark school desegregation cases. In School Board of Prince Edward County. 1929 Redding became the first African­ The county school board adopted a American admitted to the Delaware bar, policy of resistance and opted to beginning a lengthy distinguished career improve Moton High School rather than as a civil rights advocate. integrate its public schools. The Davis case would later become one of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute school desegregation cases before the (Birmingham, Alabama). The institute Supreme Court when it rendered its includes a museum that offers extensive historic Brown decision. The Moton exhibits and multimedia programs that High School has been recommended by interpret American endeavors for the the advisory board for designation as a extension of civil rights with particular national historic landmark, and the attention to Birmingham's role in those National Park Service is now preparing a efforts. The institute promotes research study for this site at the request of and sponsors seminars and conferences Congress. on civil rights as well as global human rights issues. Scotts Branch School (Summerton, South Carolina). The historic Scotts , the setting for many Branch School building no longer confrontations during the civil rights stands. This school was the primary movement of the early 1960s, is across focus of legal arguments to demonstrate the street from the institute. The park the inequality of educational facilities contains dramatic metal sculptures provided for African-American students

25 when compared with those for white institutionalizing a philosophy of "separ­ students in the Briggs v. Elliott school ate but equal" apartheid policy for desegregation case. African-Americans. More than 50 years later, Brown v. Board of Education Summerton School (Summerton, South reversed that decision. A portion of the Carolina). This school is significant for events following this landmark court its association with the Briggs v. Elliott case were acted out on the steps of school desegregation case. It was the Central High School. white school that was used as a comparison to the facilities available to Central High School represents various African-American students at Scotts large national themes in Americal1 his­ Branch School in Summerton. tory. The legacy of the Civil War and Reconstruction, federal and state rela­ William Spencer Industrial High School tionships, civil rights, school integration (Columbus, Georgia). In 1931 this policy, interracial relations, judicial school was dedicated to the educational interpretation of the constitution, and advancement of African-American continuing conflict resolution played a students by providing college prepara­ part in the history of the school, its tory subjects. neighborhood, and its community.

Central High School became preeminent Suitability Analysis in the symbolism of school integration because of the influence of television While it is true that various other impor­ technology and the news media. tant sites associated with the civil rights Through televised coverage of the movement exist within the national park events, American citizens became system or are preserved by other man­ American neighbors in fact, experi­ aging agencies, none equal the ability to encing in their living rooms the plight of illustrate the potent issues as exempli­ the Little Rock Nine and the deployment fied by the Little Rock incident of 1957. of troops on behalf of blacks' civil Little Rock Central High School offers rights. The images of students such as superior opportunities to illustrate and Elizabeth Eckford and her attackers interpret themes related to desegre­ became synonymous with Central High gation in public education. Possible School, providing a vivid picture that is designation of the site as a unit of the now part of our national historical national park system would not memory. Television and related media duplicate the resources and stories acted as a national lens by which already depicted in the system at the Americans confronted their individual Brown v. Board of Education National feelings about race and civil rights. They Historic Site. Rather, inclusion of could see themselves as a nation and Central High School in the national park experience first hand the hate and fear system would complement and expand associated with the questions of civil upon the themes represented at Brown rights and school integration. Through v. Board National Historic Site. media technology, the school and its neighborhood became part of the The events surrounding the integration nation's collective reality. of Central High School compelled Ameri­ cans to confront issues of race and Central High School is also different citizenship in ways not experienced from other civil rights sites in that its since Reconstruction and the election of legacy continues to live in the high 1876, when the future of black citizens school programs that continue today, was politically bartered away into what the school district that supports those would become known as the Jim Crow programs and, most importantly, in the era of American history. Court decisions students that make up its living legacy. made prejudice the law of the land, The citizens of Little Rock and the

26 Central High School community con­ associations through which people tinue to make their own personal stories express values and live their lives. of conflict and reconciliation available to Americans generate temporary move­ the nation and world. ments and create enduring institutions to define, sustain, or reform these Central High School is not just a story values. Sites such as Women's Rights of hatred and violence, but, more National Historical Park and the Eugene importantly, it is a living monument to V. Debs National Historic Landmark the human spirit - it is a story that illustrate the diversity and changeable provides evidence that courage and nature of social institutions. conviction provide hope in the face of adversity. The history of the community Theme III: Expressing Cultural Values. and its school is the embodiment of the This theme covers expressions of adage, "If you want peace, work for culture - people's beliefs about them­ justice." The 1957 integration of Cen­ selves and the world they inhabit. For tral High School, its students, and its example, Boston African-American community is a story and a resource National Historic Site reflects the role of that the American nation can look to ordinary Americans and the diversity of with continuing pride as we continue to the American cultural landscape. This build upon its legacy. Such a legacy is theme also encompasses the ways that worthy of inclusion as a part of the people communicate their moral and nation's national park system. aesthetic values. The gardens and studio at the Augustus Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in New Hampshire Thematic Framework are an example of this theme.

Beyond a strict suitability analysis, the Theme IV: Shaping the Political National Park Service uses a thematic Landscape. This theme encompasses framework of American history and tribal, local, state, and federal political prehistory in studying and interpreting and governmental institutions that historic sites. Until 1990, the publi­ create public policy and those groups cation History and Prehistory in the that seek to shape both policies and National Park Service and the National institutions. Sites associated with Landmark Program (NPS 1987) was political leaders, theorists, organiza­ used for that purpose. The revised tions, movements, campaigns, and thematic framework outline is reflected grassroots political activities illustrate in this study and points to three primary aspects of the political environment. history themes - Theme II: Creating Independence Hall is an example of Social Institutions and Movements, democratic aspirations and reflects the Theme III: Expressing Cultural Values, nation's political ideals. Places asso­ and Theme IV: Shaping the Political ciated with leaders in the development Landscape. of the American constitutional system such as Abraham Lincoln's home and Theme II: Creating Social Institutions the birthplace of Martin Luther King - and Movements. This theme focuses on both national historic sites - embody the diverse formal and informal struc­ key aspects of the political landscape. tures such as schools or voluntary

27 FEASIBILITY

To be feasible as a new unit of the high degree of integrity. The Mobil national park system, an area's historic Service Station at 14th and South Park setting must be of sufficient size and Streets was restored in 1997 to appropriate configuration to ensure function as a visitor center with exhibits long-term protection of the resource and related to the integration of Central High to accommodate use by the public. It School. The landscape in front of the must have potential for efficient admin­ school and the streetscape of South istration at a reasonable cost. Important Park Street remain largely unchanged feasibility factors include landowner­ from 1957. Generally the school, ship, acquisition costs, access, threats surrounding landscape, and adjacent to the resource, and staff or properties are intact and currently development requirements. accommodate a moderate level of visitor use. In the case of Little Rock Central High School, the historic setting has changed The probable partnership nature of a little from 1957. While undergoing some national historic site at Central High additions and modest growth to the School makes description of such eight-block campus, the core building details as a management structure, retains its architectural appearance as programs, and partner roles both constructed in 1927. The single addi­ speculative and premature. Such tion to the complex that has occurred decisions would need to be made jointly since 1957 is the construction of the by all partners as part of a general Jess W. Matthews Library-Media Center management plan process. However, in northeast of the main school building. It general, the National Park Service would is largely hidden from view from South see its primary roles at a potential Park Street and was designed to be national historic site as being focused architecturally compatible with the on: original school. The school's interior remains largely as constructed in 1927 1. facilitation of site management by and used in 1957. Classroom spaces, promoting partnerships and by hallways, stairways, and cafeteria convening meetings and encouraging spaces are largely unchanged from dialogue between partners to make 1927. A field house was added in 1951 decisions and to achieve mutual that updated athletic facilities, but it has goals little impact on the school building. 2. developing and leading a comprehensive interpretive program The neighborhood surrounding the (perhaps to include management of school also retains a high degree of the existing visitor center, though integrity, having undergone little this would best be decided through significant change during the past 40 a general management plan process) years. Facing the front of the school are 3. developing and implementing a seven houses on South Park Street that volunteer program to support the have retained much of their 1957 site appearance. The Bullock Temple C.M.E. 4. providing technical assistance and, if Church was constructed in 1971. The authorized by Congress, limited Ponder's Drug Store on the corner of financial assistance for historic South Park and 16th Street retains a preservation to Little Rock Schools, 28 the city of Little Rock, and figures represent the budget required for neighborhood residents and property a unit that is fully functional. Initial owners to ensure long-term start-up operations would likely require preservation of cultural resources less funding. Land acquisition and and landscapes construction costs cannot be predicted 5. working with partners to recruit until such time as a precise role for the additional public and private sector National Park Service is defined and the support for the site and to pursue need, if any, for acquisition or develop­ sources of additional funds and ment is identified. However, this resources to supplement and expand amount would likely to be minimal. Land site programs and objectives acquisition, should any be necessary, would not be expected to cost in The National Park Service does not excess of $150,000 (based on 1998 envision a role in matters related to the property values). operation of the high school, nor in maintenance or capital improvements to Designation of a national historic site the school or any other structures would generate a number of issues that within boundaries of a national historic would need consideration and coopera­ site. The National Park Service does not tion by the National Park Service, Little envision a role that would usurp nor Rock School, and the community. For supplement the city of Little Rock's example, designation as a national responsibilities for public health and historic site would increase the number safety or for land. use management and of persons who visit the school and controls. Further, the National Park surrounding area each year. The exact Service does not envision that it would number of potential visitors is difficult serve as a traditional land manager at to predict. Similar existing NPS historic Central High School. The National Park sites in urban areas have annual visita­ Service would acquire little or no tion ranging from 65,000 to 500,000. property and would not seek regulatory Current annual visitation to the Central authority (other than for the minimal High Museum and Visitor Center is property in might own in fee). Any estimated at about 25,000. Thus, it is property that might be desirable for NPS reasonable to assume that annual ownership would be identified in asso­ visitation would increase by at least a ciation with a general management factor of two, and possibly by much planning process. more.

In consideration of the likely roles of the Such an increase in visitation could National Park Service at a possible generate a variety of challenges: national historic site, an estimate of the budget necessary to operate the unit • Parking space is limited in this would be between $400,000 and residential neighborhood. However, $500,000 annually (in 1998 dollars). opportunities exist to provide This estimate is extrapolated from additional offstreet parking. comparisons of the budgets of similar national historic sites already in the • Demand for access to the existing system. Of course, the actual needed visitor center and to tour or view funding would be contingent on the school property would increase. specific roles identified for the National Conflicts with school operations and Park Service through a general manage­ neighborhood lifestyle are possible. ment plan process. Further, the cited However, there are opportunities to 29 expand visitor facilities and to website that university proudly provide controlled and managed identifies itself as, "The only college access to the school, its grounds, or university campus in the nation to and the neighborhood so as to be designated a National Historic minimize adverse impacts. In fact, Site by the U.S. Congress." designation of a national historic site not only would provide for better Although issues like these listed would protection of resources and public present challenges, it is the opinion of understanding of American history, the National Park Service that none of it also could create unique oppor­ the issues is insurmountable given tunities to enhance education strong commitment and cooperation through development of specialized between the National Park Service and curriculum or through recruitment of local partners. students to support national historic site programs. In all the alternatives that follow, Central High would continue as an • The potential demand for services to operating high school. While consid­ accommodate visitor use would eration is given to interpretation inside increase. There could be a higher the school building, acquisition of incidence of requests for police and school property is not necessary for the emergency medical services in the implementation of any alternative. area. However, it is unlikely the Administrative arrangements could be demand would exceed the capa­ achieved efficiently either through bilities of the city of Little Rock and adaptive use of one of the many other partners. Requests for permits existing nearby structures or leasing or zoning accommodations for com­ space in the neighborhood. Two vacant mercial enterprises might grow. properties across the street from the However, visitors can be directed to school offer a reasonable opportunity to other nearby locations in the city provide administrative space and/or where they can obtain products or support functions for visitor use. services. Access is direct from most areas of Little Rock and arrival via West 14th • The very idea of establishing a Street allows easy connection with national historic site that includes a Interstate 630. The national historic functioning school, in itself, has landmark status of the school property many inherent potential challenges. and the surrounding historic district, However, precedence has shown which is listed on the National Register that such an arrangement can of Historic Places, afford protection successfully be implemented without from threats that would significantly undue impacts on education. The affect its historic integrity and Tuskegee Institute National Historic significance. Site in Alabama is on the campus of a functioning university. On its

30 CONCLUSION

Little Rock Central High School is ments related to desegregation in public suitable for addition to the national park schools. system because of its place in American civil rights history as a preeminent Furthermore, Little Rock Central High is symbol and icon of the continuing feasible for inclusion in the national park struggle for equal protection under the system because of the high degree of law for all American citizens. No other historic integrity demonstrated by the existing unit of the national park resource and the ease and efficiency by system, nor similar area managed by which the National Park Service could another entity, matches the potential of partner with others to administer the Central High School to create vivid site. Anticipated costs associated with understanding and appreciation for our possible national historic site country's struggles and accomplish- designation are reasonable.

31 Photo Courtesy of Will Counts ALTE-RNATIVES ALTERNATIVES FOR RESOURCE PROTECTION AND PUBLIC USE

In addition to establishing resource tinued protection for the nationally significance and measuring the sites significant resource and providing for a against criteria for suitability/feasibility, quality experience to the visiting public. this study has explored differing It should further be recognized that the management frameworks for Little Rock three alternatives are possibilities that Central High School. Three alternatives offer broad distinctions largely based on that examine differing operational and the level of involvement of the National administrative approaches and optional Park Service. Many of the specific boundaries and visitor experiences have components of the individual been considered. They are founded on alternatives could change. the twin principles of ensuring con-

35 ALTERNATIVE A: LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL HIGH AS A NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK

This alternative constitutes the existing Service wouldnot be involved in the conditions approach to the future of management of the resource. Central High and the interpretation of the events of 1957. This alternative would embrace the existing conditions BOUNDARY RECOMMENDATION of the operating high school and the visitor center. The existing partnership The current national historic landmark between the Central High Museum and boundary would remain. No designation Visitor Center and Little Rock Central would be sought for lands beyond the High would continue as the principal eight-block area that constitutes the management framework. Little change national historic landmark. The historic would be made to Little Rock Central district that currently surrounds the High School as a historic resource, national historic landmark would although growth and expansion might constitute a secondary boundary. be undertaken as future conditions dictated. The primary distinction between alternative A and the following RESOURCE PROTECTION alternatives is that the National Park Service would not be involved under The boundary established for the alternative A. This alternative is framed national historic landmark and the to continue those existing partnerships surrounding historic district would help for management of the site with ensure the necessary protection. The protection provided by the current protection mechanisms associated with national landmark designation. the national landmark designation and the historic district, as defined in the National Historic Preservation Act of MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY 1966 as amended, would be available to ensure protection of the historic The existing management would qualities of the resource. continue principally by the Central High Museum, Inc., in cooperation with Little Rock School District and Central High VISITOR EXPERIENCE administration. A partnership with Central High Neighborhood, Inc., and Little Rock Central High School as a the at Little Rock symbol and as a site would continue to or other local educational institutions interpret the events of 1957 rnuch as it would continue to encourage historic does today. The existing visitor center preservation practices in the sur­ would remain the primary focus of the rounding historic district and reinforce visitor experience and continue as the the historic experience offered by the principal destination for visitors. Inter­ visitor center. Under this alternative the pretation would concentrate on the partners would continue to participate in timeline of events and the recorded efforts such as raising funds, seeking history of 1957-58. The school would grants, and recruiting new and broader remain as a functioning high school but partners. Central High ,would remain an continue to offer periodic tours to operating school. The National Park interested parties as it does today. The 36 landscape at the front of the school and visitor experience could evolve through the streetscape of Park Street would the implementation of a commemorative remain available for interpretation by the garden on an adjacent vacant property. staff of the visitor center. An expanded

ALTERNATIVE A and B _ •• - Boundary Recommendation Boundary Recommendation Little Rock Central High • Arkansas u.s. Department of the Interior· National Park Service ON MICROFILM DSC· JUL98· _·20001 037

37 ALTERNATIVE B: LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL HIGH AS AN AFFILIATED AREA

This alternative would explore a future historic site but acquisition of property for Little Rock Central High as an by the federal government would not be affiliated area of the national park undertaken. For that reason the bound­ system. Affiliated areas usually are ary recommendation would be the same resources that are neither owned by the as the previous alternative (see United States nor administered by the alternative A). National Park Service but are recognized by an act of Congress or by designation of the secretary of the interior as a RESOURCE PROTECTION resource of significance. Affiliation with the national park system would gen­ Technical assistance would be available erally entail technical and/or financial to aid in the protection of the historic assistance offered to the managing resource beyond the mechanisms avail­ partner by the National Park Service. able to protect a national historic landmark.

MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY VISITOR EXPERIENCE Central High Museum, Inc., would continue to be the principal manager in As described in alternative A, Little cooperation with Little Rock School Rock Central High would continue to be District and Central High administration. the principal feature of the visitor A partnership with Central High experience. The existing visitor center Neighborhood, Inc., and the University would remain the primary focus of the of Arkansas at Little Rock or other local experience and continue as the principal educational institutions would continue destination for visitors. The school to encourage historic preservation would remain as a functioning high practices in the surrounding national school but would continue to offer tours historic district and reinforce the historic to interested parties as it does today. experience offered by the visitor center. The landscape at the front of the school The National Park Service would and the streetscape of Park Street participate by offering technical and would remain available for interpretation financial assistance in accordance with by the staff of the visitor center. legislation, if authorized by Congress, or Interpretation would be expanded through any cooperative agreements through the connection with similar developed among the interested parties. resources currently managed by the Again, the interested partners would National Park Service, such as Brown v. continue to work together in such Board of Education National Historical activities as raising funds, seeking Park. Tectmical assis~an.ce ·f,or grants, and recruiting new and broader interpreti~e progtams;' exhibits, partners. publications, and waysides would also be available. An expanded visitor experience could evolve through the BOUNDARY RECOMMENDATION implementation of a commemorative garden on an adjacent vacant property. As an affiliated area, Little Rock Central High could be designated as a national 38 ALTERNATIVE C: LITTlE ROCK CENTRAL HIGH AS A NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

This alternative commemorates Little accommodate the roles defined for the Rock Central High School as a nationally National Park Service. Property significant resource by recommending necessary to accommodate NPS designation of the school and surround­ programs and functions also could be ing area as a unit of the national park achieved through lease or cooperative system. It would explore an evolu­ agreement mechanisms (thereby limiting tionary approach to Little Rock Central the need for any federal acquisition). High School National Historic Site that involves multiple parties in the manage­ The National Park Service would not ment and development of the resource. have regulatory authority on land other It would establish an early National Park than any it might acquire in-fee. Thus, Service presence on site and encourage the Park Service would not interfere partnerships with others. As opportuni­ with the Little Rock School District's ties arose, preservation and interpre­ authority to administer Central High tation would expand to inolude addition­ School. Decisions related to such al resources that would broaden and elements as school operations and enlarge the mission of the national academic and extracurricular programs historic site. would continue to be the sole responsibility of the school district. Similarly, responsibility for land use MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY controls and law enforcement and other city services in the neighborhood An array of possibilities for the overall surrounding the school would continue management of Little Rook Central High to rest with the city of Little Rock. National Historio Site would be explored under this alternative. The critical The National Park Service would serve parties would include the Board of primarily as a management facilitator, Central High Museum, Inc., the Little functioning as a catalyst to encourage Rock School District, the Central High cooperation among partners and to Neighborhood, Inc., the cityof Little maximize the combined resources of Rock, the University of Arkansas at those partners. The Park Service wou Id Little Rock or other local educational work closely with the school district, institutions, and the National Park the city, and others to implement park Service. The precise nature of any programs and achieve goals for the agreement(s) among these parties national historic site through coopera­ would be negotiated. tion and mutual initiatives. The Park Service would also bring additional Little Rock Central High National His­ resources and capabilities to manage­ toric Site would operate as a distinct ment of the national historic site, unit of the national park system. The possibly including some combination of National Park Service would assign staff resources to enhance interpretive to the unit, including a superintendent programs, public use management, or site manager. However, the role of historic. preservation, and partnership the National Park Service would not be development. that of a traditional land manager. The National Park Service would not acquire Legislation for the site could authorize the school. Any NPS acquisition of land the National Park Service to enter into would be from willing sellers only. agreements with other entities to Property needs would be determined further the purposes of the enabling act through a general management planning and to accomplish objectives outside process and would be limited to nearby the scope of the federal government's property that might be necessary to role. Agreements with the following 39 entities could be undertaken and are BOUNDARY RECOMMENDATION presented as examples of possible agreements. Designation as a national historic site and inclusion in the national park The Little Rock School District to system would entail a legislatively provide for access and interpre­ established boundary. The boundary tation on the grounds and possibly would be based on the evaluation of inside the school significant historic resources, features necessary for visitor use, and property The Central High Museum Board to needed for efficient administration. assist with interpretation, communi­ Based on a preliminary investigation, the cation and cooperation, volunteer critical resources would include the coordination, and general support Central High School property, the visitor center property and its adjacent parking The student body and alumni area, the streetscape of South Park associations of Central High to Street, the seven private homes and the promote appreciation of Little Rock Bullock Temple C.M.E. Church facing Central High School as a national the school, Ponders Drugstore, and the historic site and as an operating two vacant properties facing West 14th educational institution Street. Additional properties might be important for preservation and interpre­ The Central High Neighborhood tation but would have to await further Association and other private research to determine significance and entities to develop and operate a value. Once a more complete study was museumlinstitute for the purpose of undertaken, a definitive recommenda­ research and communication regard­ tion on the boundary of the national ing interracial relations, constitu­ historic site would be developed. It tional history, and the future of should be noted that designation as a these and related issues national historic site would be a legis­ latively enacted addition to the eight­ The city of Little Rock to promote block Central High School National visitation and use of the site, pro­ Historic Landmark designation already in vide access, law enforcement, place. zoning controls, historic preser­ vation, and overall cooperation RESOURCE PROTECTION The state of Arkansas, such as the Arkansas History Commission and Designation of Central High as a nation­ state historic preservation office, to al historic site would afford increased promote tourism, historic preser­ protection of resources through greater vation, and historic research awareness, recognition, and under­ standing of the site's importance. The University of Arkansas at Little Because the National Park Service Rock to preserve archival data would not have regulatory authority on related to Central High, conduct lands other than those it might own in­ research, and promote under­ fee, the laws, regulations, and policies standing of historic events related normally applying to units of the to Central High national park system would not be applicable to most of the site. Finally the National Park Service could coordinate with other sites, both within and outside the national park system, to research and interpret related themes, . VISITOR EXPERIENCE including black history, constitutional decisions regarding civil rights, and In keeping with the evolutionary interracial relations. approach of this alternative, the intent

40 would be to start small but as oppor­ Rock and an interpretive connection tunities arise to expand the visitor with related sites throughout the experience. At the outset of establishing country. Use of the landscape and the national historic site, the visitor streetscape for exhibits and wayside experience would be similar to the one interpretation would be explored. The presented by the Central High Museum, potential for a commemorative garden, the landscape in front of the school, an expanded visitor center, and an and periodic tours offered by the institute on interracial relations would school. The visitor experience concepts be examined in the future. that follow allow for expansion of the experience to include possible interpre­ Additional details about a potential tation within the school itself, linking national historic site can be found in the the related sites in and around Little earlier discussion of feasibility.

ALTERNATIVE C _ •• - Boundary Recommendation Boundary Recommendation Little Rock Central High • Arkansas u.s. Department of the Interior· National Park Service DSC· May 98 • _·41000 1!l3'7

ON MICROFilM 41 , . -- Streetscape

INTERPRETIVE FEATURES Little Rock Central High • Arkansas u.s. Department of the Interior· National Park Service DSC • JUL 98 • _ • 20004 ... 03.'1 ON MICROFILM .) Photo Courtesy of Central High Museum Historical Collections! UALRArchives VISITOR EXPERIENCE INTERPRETATION AND VISITOR EXPERIENCE GOALS

This section describes. the experiences commitment to enforce black civil visitor could have when they visit rights. It was also one of the few times Central High, its surrounding neigh­ in history that a president has exercised borhood, and the Little Rock vicinity. his right to use executive power to . While the focus of any experience contravene state authority. would certainly be the high school, related resources in the neighborhood, city, and nation would provide variety Equal Rights and richness to the experience. To satisfy diverse interests, a range of In the Declaration of Independence, the opportunities would be available based United States proclaimed as its founding on the interpretive themes identified for philosophy a commitment to certain Little Rock Central High that follow. "self evident truths," including the assertion that "all men are created equal." Almost 200 years later, Little INTERPRETIVE THEMES Rock Central High would put that commitment to a monumental test.

The Event The School The integration of Central High was a landmark battle in the struggle for civil Central High is much more than a rights. It forced the people of a city and building. It is a symbol of excellence in a nation to confront themselves on the education, an architectural achievement, issue of discrimination, pitted a presi­ the end of a segregated school system, dent against a governor, forged new and humanity at its best and worst. attitudes of racial tolerance, and robbed nine teenagers of their youth. The State

Civil Rights Movement As the capital of a relatively progres­ sive, upper-South state, Little Rock was The event that happened here was only an unlikely site for civil unrest. How­ one of many battles in the ongoing ever, a series of political events in the struggle for equal rights for all; only one state combined to create an explosive of many sites commemorating the situation. sacrifices made in the quest for equality. The Neighborhood

Use of Executive Power The neighborhood surrounding Central High helped set the stage for an explo- . President Eisenhower's issuance of sive situation, gave rise to heroes, Executive Order 10730, which provided heroines, and hecklers, and watched as "Assistance for the Removal of an one of the most dramatic incidents in Obstruction of Justice within the State American history unfolded. Today, the of Arkansas," represented a national once white lower- to middle-class 45 neighborhood is 92% black and strug- • learn about and gling to recover from the negative society before 1957, and realize that effects of racism. Americans enjoy rights today because of sacrifices made by others yesterday VISITOR EXPERIENCE GOALS • learn about the history, framework, To design a quality visitor experience and workings of the Constitution for Little Rock Central High, the fol- and legal issues involved in its lowing preliminary visitor experience interpretation and application goals have been developed that build learn about other sites and stories upon the resources as well as the associated with civil rights themes discussed above. • have access to the contemporary Visitors will have opportunities to story, such as happenings at the school and in Little Rock today, how • learn about and feel the emotions of the students and residents feel the events surrounding the about past and present events, integration of Central High and be school pride, and the racial situation able to relate those events to the today overall civil rights movement, to current events and to themselves • receive a brief history of Little Rock and Arkansas to learn why this • meet the people involved, e.g., Little happened here Rock Nine, white students, school administrators, soldiers and others; • view the high school inside and out feel their emotions and hear or have to gain an appreciation for its size, access to their stories history, ambiance, and architectural significance • put locations and events in context by walking or viewing the school • understand race relations of past, grounds, South Park Street and the present, and future generations streets of the surrounding neighbor- hood and, if they choose, visiting related sites

46 1 Central High School 6 'Jerry Mansion 2 Visitor Center 7 Governor's Mansion 3 Dunbar Jr. High School 8 U.S. Courthouse 4 Home of Mrs. 9 State Capitol A 5 Horace Mann Jr. High School 10 Bethel AM.E. Church NORTH

RELATED INTERPRETIVE SITeS :! ON MICROFILM Little Rock Central High • Arkansas u.s. Department of the Interior· National Park Service DSC • JUL 98 • _ • 20005 1>'7 RESPONSE PUBLIC RESPONSE TO THE STUDY

This special resource study began on The second meeting with the Museum February 16, 1998, with a trip to Little Board also involved questions concern­ Rock, Arkansas, to examine the ing the effect of national historic site resource, collect data, and meet with designation on the neighborhood, interested parties. Discussions were school, visitor use, and the visitor held with members of Central High center. People wanted clarification Neighborhood, Inc., the Central High about the Park Service's role and fiscal Museum Board, and Central High School responsibilities if national historic site Administration; the director of the designation was enacted. Informed Central High Visitor Center Laura Miller; discussion was raised relating the Little elected officials; and Elizabeth Eckford. Rock Central High School example to other national historic sites arou nd the During the week of April 6, 1998, country. Concern over Senator workshops were held in Little Rock to Bumper's legislative initiative and future determine the response to the special congressional support was also expres­ resource study preliminary findings and sed. conclusions. Workshops were held with the Central High Neighborhood, Inc., the The meeting with the students of Central High Museum Board, members Central High largely focused on two of the student body of Central High, overriding concerns - the implications and the general public. that future actions may have on the school facilities and its need for The first forum with members of Central maintenance and repair, and the effect High Neighborhood, Inc., addressed a of national historic site designation on broad range of issues related to the student population educationally designating Central High as a national and programmatically. The students historic site. Much general interest and were also interested in the possible questions were expressed concerning effects of national historic site the ramifications for the neighborhood. designation on day-to-day realities at Of particular interest was the effect on Central High, such as traffic on Park the high school if the National Park Street and increased visitation at the Service became involved coupled with visitor center. concerns over such issues as interpretation inside the school, the The final meeting was an open public potential for federal funds being forum held at the school. Again, the available for school maintenance, the principal attention was the impact on future of Central High as an operating the school and its continued operation institution, and school crowding. as an education institution. Specific Another issue of importance to the recommendations were also presented neighborhood was the need for a at this meeting, such as restoration of neighborhood comprehensive plan and the reflecting pond in front of the the potential for a museumlinstitute on school. A comprehensive list of the race relations. Questions on the status questions asked at each meeting is of the vacant properties adjacent to the presented in appendix A. school arose as did questions regarding property acquisition. Finally, the Following the workshops, letters were neighborhood had questions about NPS received from many of the organizations experience in dealing with urban park and political institutions concerned with units and managing resources through the future of Little Rock Central High. partnerships with multiple organizations. These letters are in appendix B.

51 Photo Courtesy of Arkansas Democrat--Gazette, 1998 APPENDIXES APPENDIX A: QUESTIONS AND ISSUES RAISED AT MEETINGS AND WORKSHOPS

During the course of this special 8. If the school does not continue to resource study, every effort was made operate, what would the buildings be to collect as much information as used for? possible that might influence the conclusions. That effort included 9. Questions were raised about the soliciting ideas and opinions about the Museum Board's decision to construct a future of Little Rock Central High from sculpture garden in the vacant lot individuals, organizations, and interest across from the high school. groups. The ideas, issues, concerns, and questions that were brought 10. The Neighborhood Association forward are listed below. is/has been working on a compre­ hensive plan for the high school area. How would this planning effort be MEETING WITH CENTRAL HIGH impacted by national historic site NEIGHBORHOOD, INC., BULLOCK designation? TEMPLE, LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS - APRIL 7, 1998 11 . What is the status of the vacant lots across the street from the high 1 . When the National Park Service says school? What are the possible future that Central High School is safe and uses of these properties if they are secure, is it referring to the high school designated a national historic? buildings and grounds or to the area around the school? How do we define 12. How important is the support and "safe and secure"? involvement of the Little Rock School District in the operation of the proposed 2. Does national historic site national historic site? designation mean any funds will be provided for repair of the high school 13. If the houses across Park Street buildings? from the high school are included in the national historic site, will the National 3. Will there be interpretation in the Park Service acquire them? How can school? What will the National Park they be included in the national historic Service place inside the school? site if they are not acquired?

4. Are there any operating schools in 14. Are the proposed alternatives for the national park system? If so, how do the national historic site real? What they operate? effect will they have on the designation legislation? 5. Is there any funding attached to the designation bill? What are the chances 15. Will the national historic site be of funding for the proposed national designated and then forgotten? historic site? 16. What effect will the national historic 6. Is the high school a threatened site? site have on the area?

7. Will the high school continue to 17. Concern about private property operate? rights was voiced. 55 18. What will the National Park Service 3. Who would have fiscal responsibility and the planning team tell Senator for the national historic site? Bumpers? 4. What would the national historic site 19. What is the quid pro quo for the designation do for the high school, the Neighborhood Association's support of community, etc.? the national historic site legislation? 5. How would the national historic site 20. If alternative C were adopted, who affect the existing museum/visitor would be technically in charge of the center? Would designation provide national historic site? funding for an expanded museum?

21. Is the idea of a partnership area 6. The question of construction of new realistic? structures vs. adaptive use of existing structures was raised. 22. Is the National Park Service familiar with operating urban partnership park 7. Could the Museum Board ask the areas? National Park Service to come in and operate the national historic site? 23. Development of a museum inside the school would result in conflicts with 8. Comment was made that more space operation of the school. than the existing visitor center has is needed to tell all of the Little Rock 24. Where would a museum be stories. constructed? How would it impact the school? How big would it be? What 9. Comment was made that related would it include? How would it sites pertaining to the high school compare/contrast with the existing should be treated somewhat like visitor center? Would it contain an Boston, Dayton, etc. archival facility? 10. What are the cost impacts of the 25. A new museum should be built that proposed national historic site? includes exhibits on topics such as human relations, the civil rights 11. Will Senator Bumpers' retirement movement from the post-Reconstruction affect implementation of the national era to the present, etc. It should be historic site or the funding of its educational, dynamic, global, and operation? interactive. 12. How will the planning effort/special MEETING WITH MUSEUM BOARD, resource study affect the national ROBINSON CENTER, LITTLE ROCK, historic site designation legislation? ARKANSAS - APRIL 8, 1998 13. Interest was expressed in 1. How does the. National Park Service comparing the proposed national explain the statement that threats to the historic site with Brown v. Board of high school are not apparent? Education of Topeka.

2. The partnership under alternative C 14. Questions were raised as to the - how would it work? Who would be in technical assistance that would be charge of the national historic site? available to the national historic site 56 ------_.. _------

under alternative B as compared with 8. Will visitation to.the high school alternative C. increase if the national historic site is established? 15. How will the planning team/effort influence Senator Bumpers? 9. What does the National Park Service mean when referring to the 16. Comment was made expressing encampment area at the high school? need for an expanded museum facility having expanded interpretive 10. Will any finances go to any part of themes/stories. the high school other than.the room(s) that might have exhibits? 17. Max Brantley, editor of the Arkansas Times, made a motion that 11. How would funding for the the Museum Board go on record in proposed national historic site compare support of alternative C. Motion was with the financial commitment to the carried unanimously. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka site?

MEETING WITH LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL 12. What role would the National Park HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, LITTLE Service play in operation of the national ROCK CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, LITTLE historic site? ROCK, ARKANSAS - APRIL 9,1998 13. How will the high school benefit 1. Which alternative is Senator Bumpers from national historic site designation? leaning toward? 14. Students are interested in having 2. How would national historic site the school buildings repaired. visitors affect operation of the high school? 15. Will taking over several classrooms for exhibits cause more overcrowding in 3. How would high school students be school? involved in national historic site activities/operations? 16. What are the chances of passage of Senator Bumpers' national historic site 4. What is meant by the phrase designation legislation? "highest level of resource protection"? 1 7. If the national historic site took over 5. Would the high school buildings be a portion of the school building for made handicapped-accessible if the exhibits, who would have authority in national historic site were established? that part of the school?

6. Would people still live in houses 18. Would the highest degree of across the street from the high school if preservation be implemented only for they were included within the national that part of the school used by the historic site boundaries? national historic site?

7. Would Park Street be closed to 19. Questions were raised about the vehicular traffic if the national historic boundaries of the proposed national site was established? historic site.

57 20. Will racial progress be interpreted at 6. What is the timetable between the proposed national historic site? designation and appropriation for the national historic site?

PUBLIC MEETING, LITTLE ROCK 7. Would the planning team continue CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, LITTLE with general management planning after ROCK, ARKANSAS - APRIL 9,1998 national historic site designation? 1. Is the National Park Service involved elsewhere in operating an educational 8. What would NPS presence mean for institution as a partnership area? school maintenance? The school buildings are deteriorating. 2. What is the difference between a national monument and a national 9. Would the National Park Service be historic site? involved in programs in the high school and the community? 3. What are the benefits of the proposed n(ltional historic site 10. Adjustments should be made to the designation? proposed national historic site map - boundaries should be extended to 4. What impact would visitors have on include a 14th Street arrival corridor and school operations? 1957 troop positions, roadblocks, etc.

5. Comment was made to have the fish 11. There is a need for comprehensive pond restored in front of the school. planning for the high school, neighbor­ hood, and greater community.

58 APPENDIX B: LETTERS OF SUPPORT

STATE OF ARKANSAS OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR Siale Capiltil Mike Huckabee Lillie Rock 72207 GovernQr

June3,1998

Bill Schenk Regional Director National Park Serv:ice 1709 Jackson St. Omaha, NE 68102

Dear Mr. Schenk:

I have reviewed the Special Resource Study - Preliminary Findings and Alternatives Considered, for the Little Rock Central High Project.

I believe that Little Rock Central High as a National Historic Site, Alternative "C" would be the proper choice .. We have the opportunity for a unique partnership from tbe federal level all tbe way down to the school and the neighborhood, that could result in a fascinating historical and educational site for our citizens and visitors. The resource is there as is the interest and the history. I would urge the National Park Service not to miss this opportunity.

If we can be of any assistance to you, please do not hesitate to call Eric Munson, Economic Development Liaison, at (501) 682-3635. Also, if Parks and Tourism can be of any assistance in helping to coordinate this effort, please feel free to contact us. ;1ii:J.L-- Mike Huckabee

MH:epm cc: Richard W. Davies, Executive Director Department of Parks and Tourism

59 AIkansas® THE NATURAL STATE DEPARTMEHT OF PARKS &: TOURISM One COpitol Moll ume Rock, AA 7220 I June 1, 1998 Phone:501-682-7777 FAX:501-682-1364 History Commission 501-682-69000J1TT) Personnel Section 501-682-77420J1TT) Mr. Bill Schenk, Regional Director Stote Porks DiviSion 501-682-11910J1TT) National Park Service Tourism Division 501-682-7777 0J/TT) 1709 Jackson Street lnlemet Omaha, NE 68102 \'MW.orkansas_com Dear Bill: MikeHLlckabee GOVERNOR I want to urge you to select Alternative "c" - The Legacy, from the Special Richard W_ Dovies Resource Study on Little Rock Central High School. I think it would give the National EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Park Service, the State of Arkansas, the City of Little Rock, the Little Rock School

STATE PARKS, District, the school itself and Central High Neighborhood, Inc., and unprecedented RECREATION &: TRAVEL partnership opportunity. I think this one really is different. COMMISSION Jone Christenson CHAIRMAN I realize the NPS studies a lot more areas than it ever takes into the system. Polly Crev.-s VICE·CHAIRMAN That's as it should be. I also know there is probably a built-in reaction every time one of Bill Bornes these is suggested that is something along the lines of, "Oh no, not another one ... " Yet Don Dempsey every now and then we really do find a gem, and I think Central High can be it. Donny Ford Jim Goslon DebroHaol< As you have probably found out, people allover the world know of Little Rock Billy Undsey Central High. For years, those of us in Little Rock would rather they forgot about it. Donno Koy Matteson MonUne McNulty They didn't, and I suspect they won't. I think a lot of people wish that it would just go Billy St. Jomes away. It won't and it shouldn't. My kids have a hard time believing that something like Ness Sechrest that even happened -- or had to happen. An important piece of American History J.O. 'Bud' Shamburger OVid SWitzer happened at Little Rock Central High, and it deserves NPS recognition and involvement. WadeWiliiams 'We appreciate the study, and look ferward to your favorable recornmendation. DMSION DIRECTORS lorry Corgile ADMINISTRATION Greg Butts STATE ?ARKS Joe David Rice TOURISM NoncyCIOIk GREAT RIVER ROAD Richard W. Davies John l. Ferguson HISTORY COMMISSION Executive Director Anito Middlelon KEEP ARKANSAS BEAUTIFUL RWD:bj

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITYI AFFIRMATIVE ACTION! AMERICANS WITH DISABIUTIES ACT EMPLOYER

60 CI~ 01 , .., Rod< I .{: Jim Dailey City Hall. Room 203 Mayor. 500 W. Markham Little Rock. AA 72201-1427 (501) 371-4516 FAX (50l) 371-4498

April 10, 1998

Mr. Bill Schenk National Park Service 1709 Jackson Street Omaha, Nebraska 68102

Dear Mr. Schenk:

The City of Little Rock supports the efforts of Central High Museum, Inc. to have Little Rock Central High School designated as aNational Historic Site by the National Park Service. As Mayor, I acknowledge the need for a partnership between the National Park Service, Central High Museum Board, the Little Rock School District, the Central High neighborhood and the City to make this a reality. The City wholeheartedly supports this initiative.

As you are aware, Central High School was thrust upon the world stage during the events of 1957. Forty years later it its still serving as one of the premiere high schools in our state and country, and as a symbol of the Civil Rights Movement. In 1995, Central High Museum, Inc. began work to develop a Visitor Center and Museum to collect, preserve and display items which chronicle the history of the school and particularly its role in the civil rights struggle of our country.

The City has been a willing partner in this effort and we will continue to fully support the Central High Museum Board in their endeavors to obtain National Park status for Central High.

Sincerely,

Jim Dailey Mayor

ID:mb

61 04/13/98 MON 10:01 FAX 501 682 2917 ARKANSAS STATE SENATE @002

WILLl.AM L."'BILL'" WALKER, JR.

SENATOR. 17m Drsnucr

P. O. Box 1609 l.lTTU .Rt:xX ARKANSAS i'2203

THE SENATE STATE OF ARKANSAS

April ~, 1998

Mr •. Bill Schenk National Park service 1709 Jackson street . Omaha, NE 68102 Dear Mr. schenk:

I re.cently met with representatives from the National Park Service and heard their preliminary feasibility study £or declaring Central High School a National Park Site. I represent the district that includes Central High in the Arkansas State Senate and I must tell you that I enthusiastically support Alternative C described in the plan.

I welcome the opportunity to develop a partnership with the Park Service, and if there is anything I can do as the study progresses, please do not hesitate to contact my office. sin~~0JL

William L. "Bill" Walker I :rr-! WLW/mj

Lrm.F- ROCK. ARKANSAS 7Z201

62 04/09/98 THU 15:07 FAX 501 374 9333 SHORTER COLLEGE

STATE OF ARKANSAS

Representative IRMA HUNTER BROWN 501·311-0488 Business 1920 South Summit Street 501-372·4140 Residence LITTLE ROCK. ARKANSAS 7220H250

April 9, 1998

Mr. Bill Schenk Natural Park Service. 1709 jackson Street Omaha, Nebrasks 68102

Dear Mi'. Schenk:

My Legislative District houses the Central High School area· an area that is being proposed as a National Park site. As per discussion, it is exciting to realize that sllch an historic area can be preserved for generations to come.

The community as well as those who are interested in the growth of civil rights in our country will be pleased when legislation is passed to designate Central High School as a National Park making it eligible to receive an the benefits that are designated for preservation of a National Monument.

I therefore urge the Senator - Senator Bumpers. to move forward with legislation and call upon Congress to move swiftly with this proposal.

I stand ready to assist you in anyway possible.

63 LR5D 5UPT'5 OFFICE 752 P02 APR 10 '98 15:27

LrrILE ROCK ScHOOL DISTRIcr OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT

April 10, 1998

Mr. William Schenk, Regional Director National Park Service Midwest Support Office 1709 Jackson Street Omaha, NE 68102

Dear Mr. Schenk:

On behalf of the Little Rock School District Board of Directors, I would like to express our support for the initiative to designate Central High School as a National Park site. This designation would enhance our commitment to preserve and protect this historic landmark, which will continue to provide a quality education for all children.

Central High School will continue to serve as a positive focal point for the future of the school district, the city, the state, and the nation. ;f;~ Judy Magness, President Board of Directors /~

Lesli V. Carnine Superintendent of Schools

810 West Markham Street • Little Roc:l<, Ari<..,... 72201 • (501) 824,,2000

64 I~ ...... CENTRAL HIGH ...-..rm MUSEUM AND VISrroR CENTER

April 8, 1998

Mr. Bill Schenk National Park Service 1709 Jackson Sl!"~et Omaha, NE 68102

RE: Little Rock Central High School

Dear Mr. Schenk:

I aro pleased to report that the Board of Directors of Centra! High Museum, Inc. met for two hours today with Bill Koning and the other members of the NPS planning tearo for Little Rock Central High School. Bill did an excellent job of summarizing the Special Resource Study completed by his team, including the three alternatives envisioned as possibilities. The Board unanimously adopted a resolution of support for Alternative C, which desigoates Little Rock Central High School as a National Historic Site.

We believe a partnership of our Board' with the National Park Service, the Little Rock School District, the City of Little Rock, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the Central High Neighborhood offers the best opportunity for long-term success. All of the entities mentioned have been involved in the beginning and wish to stay involved in the future.

We applaud your efforts and stand ready to be of assistance. Our support is enthusiastic and unequivocal.

Sincerely, {Zt\t Tu~

Everett Tucker, III President

ET:ca

2125 West 14th Street, Little Rock, A>kansa.kansa.

65 OFFICE OF lHE CHANCELLOR

April 9, 1998

Mr. Bill Schenk National Park Service 1709 Jackson Street Omaha, Nebraska 68102

Dear Mr. Schenk:

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) has strongly supported the effort to make the Central High School site a place of significant historical and cultural education for all our nation. Very few events in this century, such as the one which took place at Central High School in Little Rock, have provided the focus to help shift the culture and policy of this nation. Just as the event at Central High School offered our nation an opportunity to . confirm federalism and begin an important shift in racial attitudes, the developments surrounding this site offer to the future a profound historical perspective.

UALR has been a partner in the development of the Central High Visitor Center from the beginning. We have provided university grant funding as well as faculty and graduate student release time to assist in the development of the Center. Our faculty and graduate students in the public history program have served as important resources not only for the Center, but also in the development of important materids on personaiities and related sites involved in and leading up to this seminal conflict.

For example, the UALR public history program undertook, in conjunction with the alumni of Dunbar High School, the development of a traveling display of the history of Dunbar High School. This traveling exhibit tells the history of the only accredited "high school for colored boys and girls" in Arkansas. The exhibit recently received a national award.

Dr. Johanna M. Lewis of our public history program served as the director of the center through the initial phases of operation. The Central High Museum Board chose to hire one of the graduate students of the UALR public history program as the permanent executive director of the Center.

UNlYERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK • 2801 S. University • Little Rock, AR 72204-1099 • (501) 569-3200 jFAX 569-8915

66 We endorse the effort to bring national attention to the Central High School event of 1957 by involving the National Park Service in as complete a manner as possible to create a unique educational opportunity for all the nation. While I cannot state in a specific manner at this time how UALR might be involved in a national park site development, we have demonstrated our commitment to this effort in the past, and we will continue this commitment.

We request that the National Park Service consider the University of Arkansas at Little Rock as a full partner in the development of the Central High School site. We stand ready to serve as needed.

Respectfully submitted, OA~erkt~ Charles E. Hathaway Chancellor

xc: Rett Tucker Johanna M. Lewis

67 ------

"We've Got Heritage." April 20, 1998 Bill Koning Project Manager Little Rock Central High Special Resource Study 12795 West Alameda Parkway P. O. Box 25787 Denver, CO 80225 Dear Bill: This is to follow up on the .information which I gave by phone last week.about the interpretive features area map and related resources sites which were included in your preliminary finding draft for the report which you are preparing for Senator Bumpers. We recommend the following: * 3 Vacant Property - NW co

68 Bill Koning, page 2 Under related resources we suggest for addition: * Camp Robinson in North Little Rock Federal troops were housed there in 1957: * Carlotta Wall's childhood home near 15th and Valentine Streets This house was bombed in 1957. It is still standing. * Federal Courthouse on Capitol Avenue in Little Rock Aaron v Cooper which established supremacy of federal law over state's rights was heard here plus other cases realted to the 1957 Crisis. We look forward to receiving your updated draft. Sincerely,

.~ Ethel N. Ambrose Vice-President for Planning cc: Cliff Riggs, .President

69 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bates. Daisy Huckaby. Elizabeth 1987 The Long Shadow of Little 1980 : Little Rock: A Memoir. Rock, 1957-58. Baton Fayetteville: University of Rouge: Louisiana State Arkansas Press. University Press.

Bartley. Numan Kluger. Richard 1969 The Rise of Massive 1977 Simple Justice: The History Resistance: Race and of Brown v. Board of Politics in the South During Education and Black the 1950's. Baton Rouge: America's Struggle for Louisiana State University Equality. New York: Vintage Press. Books.

Beals. Melba Patillo Lucas. Eileen 1994 Warriors Don't Cry: A 1997 The Struggles of the Little Searing Memoir of the Rock Nine. Minneapolis: Battle to Integrate Little Carolrhoda Books. Rock's Central High. New York: Pocket Books. McMillen. Neil R. 1971 "White Citizens' Council Blossom. Virgil and Resistance to School 1959 It Has Happened Here. New Desegregation in Arkansas." York: Harper & Brothers. Arkansas Historical Quarterly, XXX. pp. 95- Branton. Wiley A. 122. 1983 "Little Rock Revisited: Desegregation to Reseg­ Record. Wilson. and Record. Jane regation." Journal of Negro Cassels Education. LlI. pp. 250-69. 1960 Little Rock, U.S.A.: Materials for Analysis. San Freyer. Tony Allen. Francisco: Chandler 1981 "Politics and Law in the Publishing Company. Little Rock Crisis. 1954- 1957." Arkansas Historical Reed. Roy Quarterly. XL. pp. 195-219. 1997 Faubus. The Life and Times of an American Prodigal. 1984 The Little Rock Crisis: A Fayetteville: University of Constitutional Interpre­ Arkansas Press. tation. Westport. Con­ necticut: Greenwood Press. Rowland. Walter E. 1989 Faubus, Arkansas, and 1991 "History of Central High Education. Conway. Proves to be Interesting." Arkansas: River Road Press. Tiger. pp. 1-2.

70 Smith, Griffin, Jr. Wilkinson, J. Harvie. From Brown to 1997 Little Rock, 1957: Pages Bakke: from History, The Central 1979 The Supreme Court and High Crisis, Historic Front School Integration, 1954- Pages from the Arkansas 1978. Oxford, New York, Democrat and Arkansas Toronto, Melbourne, Oxford Gazette, Aug. 29, 1957 - University Press. Oct. 4, 1957. Little Rock: Arkansas Democrat­ Wood, Nancy, Martin, Ginny, and Gazette. Jacoway, Elizabeth, Comps. 1983 A Short History of Little Southern Education Reporting Service Rock High School and Little Rock 1961 A Statistical Summary, Central High School, 1982-1983. State by State, of Little Hock: Metropolitan Segregation-Desegregation Vocational Technical Education Activity Affecting Southern Center Printing Department. Schools from 1954 to Present, Together with Pertinent Data on Enrollment, Teachers, Colleges, Litigation and Legislation. Nashville: Southern Education Reporting Service.

71

" PREPARERS

Midwest Support Office Mike Madell, Chief, Planning and Compliance

Denver Service Center Pat O'Brien, Historian Harlan Unrau, Historian Bill Koning, Park Planner Karen Arey, Landscape Architect Q Gatson, Interpretive Planner Sam Vaughn, Interpretive Planner

Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site Bess Sherman, Superintendent Tyrone Brandyburg, Chief of Iterpretation

Consultants Don Castleberry, Retired Regional Director Laura Miller, Executive Director, Central High Museum and Visitor Center

® Printed on recycled paper

72 As the nation's principal conservation agency, the Department ofthe Interior has responsibility for most of our nationally owned public lands and natural resources. This includes fostering sound use of our land and water resources; protecting our fish, wildlife, and biological diversity; preserving the enviromnental and cultural values of our national parks and historical places; and providing for the enjoyment of life through outdoor recreation. The department assesses our energy and mineral resources and works to ensure that their development is in the best interests of all our people by encouraging stewardship and citizen participation in their care. The department also has a major responsibility for American Indian reservation communities and for people who live in island territories under U.S. administration.

Publication services were provided by the graphics staff, Resource Planning, Denver Service Center. NPS D-2 / August 1998