For the last week of Black History month, Radio DePaul News is highlighting the life and accomplishments of Ernest Green.
Green is the oldest member of the Little Rock Nine, the first group of Black students to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, after the Supreme Court case Brown vs. Board of Education that led to the desegregation of schools.
Central High School was ground zero for the issue of desegregation. The night before Green’s first day of senior year, September 2, 1957, the Arkansas governor sent in the state’s National Guard to block the students from entering the school.
The Little Rock Nine repeatedly tried to attend their school, only to be sent home by school officials and angry mobs. Finally, President Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the students into school. Green and the other members of the Little Rock Nine were personally escorted by the National Guard for the rest of the year as they endured intense harassment.
Here, Green speaks of his year at Central High School, the importance of Black support systems throughout his life, his work to provide opportunities for Black women, and where he finds hope for radical change in the government.