Arkansas Troops
Although the photo describing this blog is not Plessy vs Ferguson, it makes you wonder why and how things remain the same, because only 63 years ago today The National Guard surrounded Central High School in Little like a human moat. Their orders were simple and coming directly from Arkansas governor Orval Faubus (FAW-bəs) himself. The armed troops were enlisted to prevent nine black teenagers from entering a “whites only” high school, as a mob 400+ enraged white people heckled, and booed and threatened to lynch these 9 innocent kids. These kids weren’t breaking any laws. Faubus’ actions were in direct violation of the federal order to integrate Little Rock Central High.
Since 1896 Plessy v Ferguson was used to justify the segregation of Blacks and whites with all that separate but equal bull. When Linda Brown along with the NAACP went to the Supreme Court arguing that it was unconstitutional. The schools weren’t equal. The white school was far superior and miles closer to her home. A year later, when the ruling declared segregation in education unconstitutional, the federal government moved to integrate everything “with all deliberate speed”. Faubus’ actions was the first instance of backlash, since the courts decided to integrate.
Background: Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality – a doctrine that came to be known as “separate but equal”.
