This project was supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian Made accessible through a grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation and Photo Friends
Jefferson Thomas was one of a group of African-American students, known as The Little Rock Nine, who, in 1957, were the first black students to attend classes at Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. After the governor directed the Arkansas National Guard to deny the students’ entry to the school twice, President Dwight Eisenhower took control of the National Guard and the nine students were finally allowed to attend. The guard stayed for protection the entire school year. Photograph caption dated October 8, 1962 reads "Tells Little Rock story." The article partially reads "Two young Los Angeles Negroes, members of a group of students who in the fall of 1957 marched to the steps of Central High School in Little Rock, Ark, to test their right to enter an all-white school, today said they approve of the way James H. Meredith is handling himself at the University of Mississippi."
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