Arkansas honors Little Rock Nine 66 years later

LITTLE ROCK, Arka. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - It was 66 years ago Monday that the Little Rock Nine made their way into Central High School as the first African Americans to attend the school.

The attempts to enter Central High School first started September 3, 1957, but the National Guard, ordered to be there by Democratic Governor Orval Faubus, turned them away.

They tried again more than two weeks later on September 23, and a riot broke out causing police to turn them away for their own safety.

Republican President Dwight Eisenhower stepped in the next day, ordering federal troops, the 101st Airborne, to come in and help.

The nine students finally made it inside with their help on September 25.

Little Rock Nine Scholarship

Members of the Little Rock Nine held a press conference with the Clinton School of Public Service Monday, where the school announced an endowment towards the Little Rock Nine Scholarship for its students.

Afterwards, Dr. Terrance Roberts, one of the Little Rock Nine, reflected back on that day 66 years ago, and the core memories he wants to keep alive for students.

"We pretty much knew from day one and thereafter that we were to either voluntarily leave or we would be killed and dragged away. That message was repeated every day and every day," Roberts shared.

When asked what made him keep fighting through all of it, Roberts responded with, "The right to be there."

Several of the members who were there spoke on not just their history but the future of the state and education, and where they fear it is going. They referenced the efforts by the Arkansas Board of Education to remove AP African American Studies from the course list for students, and pointed to how schools have since decided to teach it anyway.