Disney in the Classroom
Page 2 of 3
The southern states interpreted "with all deliberate speed" as "as slow as possible". It was not until 1957 that the first black students were allowed to apply to a white high school. This school was Central High School of Little Rock, Arkansas. Little Rock was considered a progressive Southern city. Its bus system was already integrated, black adults were allowed to vote, and many blacks were part of the city’s middle class. Little trouble was anticipated as nine black high school students prepared for their first day of school.
The actual "Little Rock Nine" and the actors that played them in the movie
This is where The Ernest Green Story begins. The nine black students attended the all black Horace Mann High School. Each was an academically strong individual of high moral character. Ernest Green was the group’s only Senior. This is why most accounts of the "Little Rock Nine" focus on Green; since he would be the first black student to graduate from a southern "white" high school. The Ernest Green Story introduces Ernest as a talented, happy, and well adjusted young man who wants to go to college. Since, as was related above no trouble was anticipated, Ernest and the other eight members of the "Little Rock Nine" were excited about the opportunities they would gain by attending an academically prestigious high school.
Unfortunately for Green and the other students academics would not be the focus of the 1957-1958 school year.
This is because the Governor of Arkansas was running for re-election. Orval Faubus, by southern standards, was considered a moderate or even a liberal politician. In the past he had supported the concept of integration. However, when he realized that allowing the integration of Central High could lose him the election; he very quickly became a hard core segregationist. He carried his new attitude out by placing Arkansas National Guard troops around Central High to keep the nine black students out.
The movie's version of Ernest Green being kept out of school,
and a historical photograph of Elizabeth Eckford being kept out of school that
same day