Gems on the Web: The Little Rock 9, And The History Behind The History

Today is the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, and the photo to the left is an iconic representation of that important event in American history: Black student Elizabeth Eckford heads into the school surrounded by a taunting and angry crowd, as behind her a white classmate hisses at her, face contorted in the ugliness of racial hatred. That girl was Hazel Bryan Massery — and 40 years later, she and Eckford were reuinted for a photo, and became, surprisingly, great friends, beginning a relationship sprung from their intertwined roots in that larger story which still marks it with angst and raw feelings on both sides. Vanity Fair's David Margolick chronicles this and other events springing from that day 50 years ago in "Through a Lens, Darkly" — an 11,000 word opus tracing what happened to Eckford and the rest of the Nine after that day:

In all the documentaries over the years, it is invariably at [the] moment, when Elizabeth and the other eight ascend Central's stately stairs and walk through its grand wooden doors, that the music swells and the credits begin to roll: the story is over. In fact, the world only stopped watching. Within a few weeks Sputnik went up, and everyone had an excuse to look elsewhere. But for the Little Rock Nine, the mob didn't so much disperse as move inside the building. And the more the world looked away, the worse things got.

"Worse" for Elizabeth were things like being pelted with things like tomatoes, eggs, broken glass, "rock-filled snowballs" and a rain of sharpened pencils; being shoved and kicked and knocked down; being called "nigger" constantly (one boy sitting behind her muttered it all through history class); being scalded in the showers after gym when her classmates would coordinate to flush all the toilets at the same time; being taught by teachers claiming that "slavery actually civilized blacks" and "the Ku Klux Klan was founded to defend white womanhood"; being completely and utterly ignored.

There's more that is just as poignant from Elizabeth's current history — like the fact that her life's savings basically consist of her Congressional Gold Medal, worth about $35,000, which she has so far been unable to unload — and the friendship with Massery, late in life, is just part of it (but a fascinating part of it, how two faces immortalized in history grow up to forge some kind of uneasy understanding). Margolick calls it "one of the best things I've written," which is saying something. It's fitting to mark a 50-year anniversary with a reminder that it's been a long 50 years for the people who actually lived through it, and the story is still going on. One need only look back a week to the another number - the Jena 6 - to see that.

Through A Glass, Darkly [VF]

Comments

[1differentdrummer]

06:00 AM on 09/26/2007

When I see this 1will post I am saddened. I don't see the name Bell in the posted article. As a young army officer I was stationed in the Jim Crow South and it was sickening to witness such a society. The South is years behind because of such thinking.

[eaglecapri]

09:59 AM on 09/26/2007

Correction. The COUNTRY is years behind because of such thinking. I live in Chicago and it exists here and everywhere else.

[1will]

12:15 PM on 09/26/2007

Bell was not mentioned by name in the article but who do you think was the most famous member in the Jena 6? Whose name is mentioned in every article, column or speech when the Jena 6 is referred to?
As for the South being years behind in it's thinking, this episode in Jena is an abberation. That's why it's news. Do you really think this goes on every day everywhere in the South?

[eaglecapri]

01:41 PM on 09/26/2007

And why do you think his name is the most famous? Personally, I would have liked to have seen the faces and known the names of the three teenagers who hung the nooses in the first place. How about you?....or is that irrelevant, 1will?

[1will]

01:17 AM on 09/26/2007

I wouldn't compare what a few delinquents in Jena went through to what this woman endured.
Did you notice how long it took for Bell's criminal record to get out? The MSM really milked this story. According to Todd Lewan of the AP even black people complained to the police of Bell's vandalism. Add a few arrests for assault and you don't get a picture of a dignified well behaved youth. Eckford stands as a role model, Bell is the guy you hope your kids never emulate.

[eaglecapri]

09:58 AM on 09/26/2007

1will,

Focus. The author compared Jena 6 to Little Rock due to the nooses being hung, which 'started' it all. Although some would say the blacks sitting under the white tree - how audacious - was the starting point! Ha! But most, I believe, would say racial hatred has never ended, so Jena 6 didn't start anything.

The author clearly depicted the hatred: tomatoes/egg/broken glass being thrown; rock-filled snowballs; a rain of sharpened pencils; incessantly being called nigger; being scalded with hot water; etc. We could also imagine nooses being hung outside the Little Rock High School during this time as well, right? That was 50 years ago? Why is it still happening, now?

When I look at the picture of Elizabeth Eckord and Hazel Bryan Massery, it is so disturbing. They are friends now, but I have to also remember that the other students during this era that participated in racial hatred are NOT dead and very much alive; they've had children of their own. The question is, how much of this racial hatred did they teach their children?

We are not to totally IGNORE the point of the story and focus on Bell's record. We are to wonder why this sort of bullsh*t - all of it - exists today, 50 years later.

[1will]

12:18 PM on 09/26/2007

Suprise. Some people are bad and cannot get along with others. It happens. That's why we have laws to contain their behaviour. The actions in Jena are not the norm for America despite what some might think or want to believe.
50 years from now there will still be racism, sexism, hate etc. Hopefully it will be an exception and not the rule (as it is today).