The March of Time

September marked the 50th anniversary of the Central High Crisis in Little Rock.

I grew up in Conway, just a short drive from Little Rock (shorter now, due to the highway and the expanding population of the town, than it was when I was a little boy), but the Central High crisis happened a couple of years before I was born. So I have no memories of what life was like in Little Rock before integration of its public schools.

I do know, however, that when I enrolled in first grade in 1966, it was the first time that the schools in my hometown were desegregated. Prior to that, I have memories of going to places like the local theater (one of those old-fashioned, single-screen theaters with the marquee out front and a balcony inside) and seeing the black patrons being ushered in to a section of the balcony from a back entrance.

I don't remember seeing separate water fountains or rest rooms, but I'm sure they were there. I just wasn't old enough to read yet. So I couldn't distinguish between "White Only" and "Colored Only" signs.

The experience of the "Little Rock Nine" in 1957 was a watershed event. It was a showdown between the forces of the past, embodied by then-Gov. Orval Faubus, and the forces of the future. Similar showdowns were destined to occur in coming years in other Southern states with other Southern governors at other Southern schools.

Today, Arkansas' largest school district is 70% black. All the problems have not been resolved. But things are different.

Nevertheless, it's a little baffling to me the fuss that was made over the anniversary this year. Sure, a 50th anniversary is a milestone, but from what I've heard from friends back in Arkansas, it was treated like an event to celebrate, rather than an event to be ashamed of.

Perhaps it's in the way you look at it. The event itself, with people spewing hatred at each other and challenging the basic right to a good education, was not praiseworthy. All across the South, Gov. Faubus and white citizens in Arkansas were praised by segregationists.

But they were on the wrong side of history. And that's the part that seems to be deserving of the praise. The Little Rock Nine helped Arkansas grow -- in spite of itself.