LITTLE ROCK — Fifty years ago this month, nine Arkansas teenagers walked out of their homes here to go to school. It should have been a simple trip, but it turned into a momentous journey that changed America.
In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka outlawed segregation in public education. But saying it was one thing, doing it in the Deep South was another. Little Rock School District Superintendent Virgil Blossom came up with a plan of gradual integration that would begin at Central High School in 1957.
He asked for volunteers from all-black Dunbar Junior High and Horace Mann High School — after telling prospective students they would not be able to participate in extracurricular activities. After hate mail and threats that parents would lose their jobs, many of the students decided to stay in their own schools, but nine black students accepted the challenge.
However, as they arrived for school on Sept. 3, 1957, they were turned away by the Arkansas National Guard, called out by Gov. Orval Faubus to, as he put it, "maintain and restore order."
More than two weeks later, the Little Rock Nine, as they were being called, tried again. Outside the school, rioting broke out, and the Little Rock police removed the nine for their safety.
The next day, Sept. 24, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered units of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division into Little Rock and federalized the Arkansas National Guard, and in a televised speech to the nation declared that "mob rule cannot be allowed to override the decisions of the courts."
On Sept. 25, the nine spent their first full day at school. But the battle was not over. Throughout the year, the nine were accompanied by guards as they moved from class to class. In December, one of them was suspended for spilling chili on boys who would not let her go to her seat in the cafeteria and expelled in February for insulting a girl who had hit her with a purse.
The next year the city's high schools were closed to prevent further desegregation, while legal wrangling continued in the courts. Eventually, two of the nine students returned and graduated from Central High, one completed her work by correspondence course and the rest finished school elsewhere. But Central High came to symbolize the federal government's commitment to eliminating separate systems of education for blacks and whites. It was a major step in a civil rights movement that would still take years, even decades, to reach its goals.
Today, Central High remains a functioning school, serving students of all races and ethnicities. It has worn its age well, at least as far as you can tell from the outside. It has a commanding presence and an elaborate architectural facade. Grounds are neatly tended.
The school has been designated a National Historic Site, and its story is told in the visitors center across the street. Occupying a former Mobile service station — restored to its 1957 appearance — the center features an exhibit called "All the World Is Watching Us: Little Rock and the 1957 Crisis." Filled with stark black-and-white photographs, it is a telling look at what once was.
Kitty-corner to the visitors center is Adversity Park, with arched towers that present more background on the school and the civil rights movement. It is, if not exactly a comfortable place, at least one of thoughtful encounter.
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Central High School is not the only place of historical significance in Little Rock, of course. The capital city is also home to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum in the River Market district.
Building presidential libraries is not only a long-standing tradition, in 1955 it became a requirement, as Congress passed the Presidential Libraries Act. These centers preserve the written record and physical history of our presidents, and whatever your political leanings, you can learn much about the life and times of the office-holder, with the historical perspective the libraries provide. This is noted by the former president when he said: "The thing I want most is for people to come to this library, whether they're Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, to see that public service is noble and important."
Admittedly, Clinton's library is not the most elegant building — even Arkansans will tell you that. It's long and narrow and boxy, stretching out over the river in a symbolic "bridge to the future" mode. But the setting near an old bridge over the Arkansas River is nice, and there are pretty waterworks.
The museum includes the expected review of Clinton's eight-year administration — both ups and downs — but there are also replicas of the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room. And you get to see a lot of the accoutrements that accompany the presidency — from the china, the parties, the fashions to the gifts presented to the president on behalf of the people of the United States from countries all over the world.
Another view of politics and history can be had at the Old State House Museum. Completed in 1842 on the recommendation of then territorial Gov. John Pope, it followed his admonition that it should be "in view of the river. A State House, built with taste and elegance ... would command the admiration and respect of the passing stranger and have a moral and political influence on the whole community."
The white-pillared building served that purpose until 1911, when changing times and needs called for a bigger, newer Capitol building (which you can also visit).
After a number of years in which its fate was undecided, the Old State House was saved and turned into a museum. It's worth a visit just to see the gracious architecture. The original House of Representatives chamber is still intact, as are elegant staircases and hallways.
Exhibits include the history of the building; Arkansas' first families, including first ladies' gowns; a tribute to Arkansas women; Grandmother's Cottage, a hands-on children's area; period parlors; and a look at the Arkansas wilderness.
From the Old State House, a walking tour of downtown Little Rock can take you to Riverfront Park, where you can see the original "Le Petit Roche," the rock that gave the city its name, and the River Market, filled with shops and restaurants. Even the Clinton Library is within walking distance.
You can track down places that Clinton used to patronize during his days as governor: Doe's Eat Place, Broadway McDonald's, his favorite jogging route and the Community Bakery.
Whatever else you do, however, you might want to save time for another Arkansas legend: the Peabody ducks.
These ducks swim daily in the fountain in the foyer of the Peabody Hotel — a tradition that goes back to the 1930s. It seems the general manager of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis returned from a hunting trip in Arkansas and thought it would be fun to place some of their live decoys (legal in those days) in the hotel's fountain instead of returning them to the duck farm several miles away. (The Tennessee whiskey that members of the hunting party had been nipping just might have contributed to the idea.)
The ducks were such a hit that the tradition has continued in the lobbies of all Peabody Hotels (in Memphis and Orlando, as well as Little Rock). They were the inspiration for Robert McCloskey's classic Caldecott Medal book, "Make Way for Ducklings."
The Peabody Little Rock is next to the Old State House. You don't have to be a guest to see the ducks or watch the twice-daily duck march, when a red carpet is rolled out, and to the music of John Philip Sousa, the ducks march to and from the fountain (at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.).
You might even get to meet the personable duck master, Lloyd Withrow, who has been at this job since 2004. He'll tell you, with perhaps only slight bias, that the Little Rock Peabody Ducks are the best in the chain. For one thing, their pool is bigger; for another, the walk is longer. Plus there's a glass elevator, so you can watch them come and go to their second floor Duck Palace, he says.
Withrow does other things at the hotel, but "the ducks are my number one priority." He arrives at the hotel at 6:45 a.m. and goes to the Duck Palace to give them a breakfast of mealworms and romaine lettuce. Then he lets them exercise for 45 minutes while he cleans the palace.
These ducks are North American mallards, he says, and descendants of the original ducks. The Peabody company owns a preserve, where all the ducks are kept for the hotels. Ducks will spend about three months (that's the time it takes a clipped wing feather to grow back) at the hotel and then go back to the preserve and rotate around. The fountain accommodates five ducks at a time — four females and one drake, who's always known as John Philip Duck. (There's a book by children's author Patricia Polacco about him.)
When the hotel ducks lay eggs (Withrow checks that every morning, "We all know what ducks do," he says), those eggs are taken to the preserve to be hatched. Every year between 50 and 100 ducks are released into the wild, he says.
Withrow will tell you he has the best job in the world. "The raven master at the Tower of London came here, and he asked me if I'd like to trade jobs. I'm just privileged to have this job. The ducks are interesting; they're smart. They respond to whistle commands, but they also holler when they hear my voice."
The ducks are popular with young and old alike, says Withrow. They help teach children respect for all living things, and Withrow enjoys talking to the folks that gather daily to watch the march. For the most part, the ducks are well-behaved, but occasionally one will stray from the red carpet and create some excitement. Any live creature can be somewhat unpredictable.
But that's all part of the fun, he says. "You've heard the term 'lucky duck.' That's these ducks, for sure."
E-mail: carma@desnews.com