Nine From Little Rock (1964)

Nine from Little Rock is an American short documentary film. It was produced by Guggenheim Productions and the U.S. Information Agency. It was released in autumn of 1964. The film documents the nine Black students who integrated the all-white Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in autumn of 1957. It describes the individual achievements of these students during the following seven years. The film won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). In 1954, the US Supreme Court ruled in the famous Brown v. Board of Education case that segregation of schools in the American South was unconstitutional. Despite this ruling, the conflict over segregation in schools grew and reached its height at Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. Nine Black students attempted to enroll in 1957, prompting a fierce backlash from the pro-segregation state government of governor Orval Faubus. On September 4, 1957, the Arkansas National Guard were mobilized by Gov. Faubus to prevent the integration of the students. Five days later, President Eisenhower (a Republican) signed the first civil rights bill since Reconstruction. After a white mob forced the nine Black students to withdraw from Little Rock Central High School, Pres. Eisenhower ordered the National Guard be federalized on Sept 23, 1957, taking them out of the Governor's control, and ordered the US Army to support the integration of the school.