1957’s ‘Little Rock Nine’ Return to Central High in Joy, Sadness

The nine black students who bucked overwhelming odds to desegregate Little Rock Central High School in 1957 returned to the school as a group today with joy and sadness.

“We are joyous that we made it, sad that we had to make it,” said Melba Patillo Beals, 44, now a journalist in San Francisco.

The “Little Rock Nine” returned to Central as guests of the board of directors of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, which chose to hold its national meeting at Little Rock to mark the 30th anniversary of the desegregation crisis at Central. Daisy Bates, an NAACP leader who served as counselor to the students, also was honored.

“We did not come to open old wounds,” Benjamin Hooks, the NAACP executive director, told about 200 people gathered in the Central High library for a news conference. “But rather we come to celebrate and commemorate an event that changed the course of the nation and made it better.”

Gov. Bill Clinton said he was “honored beyond words” to play host for the tribute to the students, who entered the school only after President Dwight D. Eisenhower dispatched federal troops to escort them past an angry mob and into the halls of Central.

Clinton, who hosted the Nine at the governor’s mansion Wednesday, said he was 11 years old when the crisis commanded worldwide attention.

“Much to my chagrin, it became the only thing most people knew about my beloved state,” he said. “But with the passage of time and the emergence of other issues, other leaders and other problems . . . thank God it’s no longer the only thing they know.”

Blacks now account for 57% of the 2,020 students enrolled at the school.