Testing the 1954 US Supreme Court ruling that racial segregation in American public schools was unconstitutional, a group of nine black students attempted to enroll at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. Governor Orval Faubus made known that the Arkansas National Guard would prevent the young African-American students from entering the school. For their own safety, Gov. Faubus argued.
To enforce the ruling President Dwight Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent in members of the US Army’s 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
