Name: Hudman, Heather
E-mail: hhudman@earthlink. net
Topic: "The Little Rock Nine",   School Integration
Grade: Fourth or Fifth
Time: 2 - 3 class periods
Ark. Hist. Framework: 3.1.6

Objective: Students will research the civil rights event that happened at 
Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957.  Then students will be able 
to write and share how the "Little Rock Nine" has effected our state.

Set: Give students the following writing prompt:  You arrive at school and there 
is an angry mob waiting to greet you at the door.  Some of the people in the mob 
are shouting horrible  things about you that hurt your feelings.  Just when you 
think things can't get worse you feel spit from someone  other than yourself running 
down your checks.  Write a paragraph explaining how you would respond to this situation.

Materials: internet, Arkansas text book, paper

Key Terms: amendment, desegregation, segregation, discrimination, civil rights

Key Facts: 
* 1954 - Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Booard of Education that segregtion in the public schools was a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
* 1957 - Federal Court ordered desegregation of public schools in Little Rock, Arkansas.    
* Governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, ordered the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the 9 black children enrolled in Central High School from attending 
   the school.   
* The students were greeted by a mob of angry people.   
* President Eisenhower made the National Guard part of the federal army to protect the 9 students.   
* 1958 - Governor Faubus closed all the schools in Little Rock to prevent black students from attending white schools.   
* 1959 - The U.S. Supreme Court ordered that the schools be re-opened.

Activities: Discuss with students the events leading up to the situation at Central High School.  Discuss how the brave acts of these nine black students 
changed the course of our state history as well as the history of the U.S. Students will reseach event and create a time-line of events leading up to 
Central High event.  Then after researching students will write a letter to the nine students telling them how their actions changed the course of history.

Closure: Students will read their letters to their classmates.  Then the letters will be displayed in the classroom.

Assessment: The time-line will be used as an assessment.

Resources: 
http://americanhistory.si.edu/timeline/07sitin.htm
http://www.watson.org
http://afroamhistory.about.com
http://www.usdoj.gov/kidspage

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