On this day in 1957, all eyes in the country were focused on a high school in the middle of Little Rock Arkansas. Crack paratroopers with fixed bayonets on this day held back crowds of white persons at Central High School and escorted nine African-American students in and out of the main building. More than 450 white troops of the 101st Airborne Division, who arrived the night before on orders from President Eisenhower, ringed the sprawling, buff -brick school throughout the day. They were part of a 1000-man task force airlifted to Little Rock the day before from Fort Campbell, Ky. One white civilian was clubbed with a rifle butt and another man suffered a bayonet cut on the arm as the helmeted paratroopers broke up clusters of spectators.
About 1200 white students out of an enrollment of 2000 had entered Central High and classes had already started when an Army station wagon brought the students; three boys and six girls to the campus at 8: 20 A. M. (CST). A detachment of paratroopers, about 20 strong, surrounded the Black Students as they got out of the vehicle. The students and soldiers marched up the front steps of the building and went inside quickly. Inside, soldiers in full battle dress guarded doors to the classrooms in which the Black Students studied. They marched alongside each student through corridors when classes changed.
President Eisenhower resumed his interrupted Newport vacation today but kept in close touch with the progress of troop-enforced school integration in Little Rock. The Chief Executive was back at the Newport Naval Base before 9 A. M. today after an 80-minute flight from Washington.
How long the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division will be kept on their history-making guard duty at Central High School is a question their commander-in-chief will answer personally on the basis of daily reports from the scene.
Here is an early morning news report on the first day at Central High in Little Rock as reported by NBC Radio News.
