The Little Rock Nine TIME LINE:
1954: U.S. Supreme Court calls for desegregation of public schools in Brown v. Board of Education.
1955: Little Rock school board agrees to comply with ruling.
1957: NAACP registers nine black students to integrate Little Rock Central High School: Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, Jefferson Thomas, Terrence Roberts, Carlotta Walls, Minnijean Brown, Gloria Ray, Thelma Mothershed and Melba Pattillo.
September. 4: Little Rock Nine try to enter the building and are turned away by National Guard, called in by Gov. Orval Faubus.
Sept. 9: Judge Ronald Davies of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas begins injunction proceedings against the governor and two National Guardsmen for interfering with integration.
September. 14: Faubus meets with President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Newport, R.I.
September. 20: Judge Davies grants NAACP lawyers Thurgood Marshall and Wiley Branton an injunction telling Faubus to withdraw the National Guard.
September. 23: Little Rock police slip students into the school earlier than scheduled to bypass protesters. When crowd of more than 1,000 white protesters realizes what happened, it begins rioting. The outnumbered police officers escort the Little Rock Nine out of the school.
September. 24: Eisenhower sends 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army to Little Rock.
September. 25: Little Rock Nine successfully enter the school.
Nov. 27: 101st leaves Little Rock.
1958: Little Rock Nine receive NAACP's Spingarn Medal.
May 8: Eisenhower orders federalized National Guard removed from Central High School.
May 27: The oldest Little Rock Nine student, Ernest Green, is the first black student to graduate from Central High.
September: Faubus signs a recently passed law allowing him to close Little Rock public senior high schools, forcing all students to study elsewhere.
June 1959: A federal court rules Faubus' actions unconstitutional, forcing him to reopen the schools.
1982: Little Rock Central High School named to the National Register of Historic Places.
Nov. 9, 1999: Little Rock Nine receive Congressional Gold Medal.
August 2005: Sculptures in their likenesses are dedicated on the grounds of the Arkansas state Capitol.
April 2, 2009: Youngest Little Rock Nine student, Carlotta Walls LaNier, to receive the Thurgood Marshall Award from Quinnipiac University.
1954: U.S. Supreme Court calls for desegregation of public schools in Brown v. Board of Education.
1955: Little Rock school board agrees to comply with ruling.
1957: NAACP registers nine black students to integrate Little Rock Central High School: Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, Jefferson Thomas, Terrence Roberts, Carlotta Walls, Minnijean Brown, Gloria Ray, Thelma Mothershed and Melba Pattillo.
September. 4: Little Rock Nine try to enter the building and are turned away by National Guard, called in by Gov. Orval Faubus.
Sept. 9: Judge Ronald Davies of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas begins injunction proceedings against the governor and two National Guardsmen for interfering with integration.
September. 14: Faubus meets with President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Newport, R.I.
September. 20: Judge Davies grants NAACP lawyers Thurgood Marshall and Wiley Branton an injunction telling Faubus to withdraw the National Guard.
September. 23: Little Rock police slip students into the school earlier than scheduled to bypass protesters. When crowd of more than 1,000 white protesters realizes what happened, it begins rioting. The outnumbered police officers escort the Little Rock Nine out of the school.
September. 24: Eisenhower sends 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army to Little Rock.
September. 25: Little Rock Nine successfully enter the school.
Nov. 27: 101st leaves Little Rock.
1958: Little Rock Nine receive NAACP's Spingarn Medal.
May 8: Eisenhower orders federalized National Guard removed from Central High School.
May 27: The oldest Little Rock Nine student, Ernest Green, is the first black student to graduate from Central High.
September: Faubus signs a recently passed law allowing him to close Little Rock public senior high schools, forcing all students to study elsewhere.
June 1959: A federal court rules Faubus' actions unconstitutional, forcing him to reopen the schools.
1982: Little Rock Central High School named to the National Register of Historic Places.
Nov. 9, 1999: Little Rock Nine receive Congressional Gold Medal.
August 2005: Sculptures in their likenesses are dedicated on the grounds of the Arkansas state Capitol.
April 2, 2009: Youngest Little Rock Nine student, Carlotta Walls LaNier, to receive the Thurgood Marshall Award from Quinnipiac University.