Civil Sights

It’s hard to believe that a mere fifty years ago, nine African-American high-school students had to be escorted by federal troops, past a menacing stand of Arkansas National Guardsmen, local police and white citizens, simply to exercise their dubious right to go inside Little Rock Central High and sit alongside...

By Susan Froyd

December 27, 2007

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It’s hard to believe that a mere fifty years ago, nine African-American high-school students had to be escorted by federal troops, past a menacing stand of Arkansas National Guardsmen, local police and white citizens, simply to exercise their dubious right to go inside Little Rock Central High and sit alongside white classmates. But in these more relaxed times, it’s still an important history lesson to learn, regardless of who you are: The rocky, tentative steps taken by those kids in 1957 paved the first leg of the superhigh-way of diversity that we all travel today.

Heroes and Sheroes: The Story of the Little Rock Nine, a comprehensive exhibit that uses photos and memorabilia to examine the impact of the Little Rock Nine on the U.S. civil rights movement, will help tell the story to new generations when it opens today at the Iliff School of Theology, 2201 South University Boulevard, for a month-long run, through January 25. The show then moves to the Wells Fargo Bank at 1740 Broadway for an additional month’s run in February; a related Celebration of Courage luncheon with the nine in person takes place February 26 at the Adam’s Mark Hotel. For details, call 720-765-3109 or log on to www.iliff.edu.
Jan. 2-25, 2008

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Susan Froyd started writing for Westword as the "Thrills" editor in 1992 and never quite left the fold. These days she still freelances for the paper in addition to walking her dogs, enjoying cheap ethnic food and reading voraciously. Sometimes she writes poetry.

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