1957+-+RM

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My name is Elizabeth Eckford. The year is 1957 and I am 16 years old. Mama says this may be the most important year of my life so I should write it down so that I don’t forget it when I’m old and forgetful like her mama. I guess this year has been full of big changes. The white folk are still pretty upset about it all and that scares me a little. I’m careful about where I go and who I go with cause I don’t want to end up like old Willie Edwards.

I guess it all started about 4 years ago, in 1954 with that big court case about the schools being separate but not equal and how that ain’t right. In the end, that meant me and eight of my friends were supposed to start going to Little Rock Central High School in September. Governor Faubus tried his best to stop it. He tried so hard that President Eisenhower himself had to come down here and give him a talkin’ to. My first day of school there, well, the first day I actually got in, was September 24th, 1957. I’ll never forget walkin’ up the sidewalk with big crowds on both sides of me. They were all white faces, screamin’ and yellin’ and spittin’ at the nine of us. In between us and them though were soldiers. Big, strong, gun-totin’ soldiers, there to keep me safe.

Gettin’ in was the easy part. Most of the other kids didn’t like me much. It didn’t make that much sense to me, cause they didn’t even know me, so how could they already not like me? I was lucky though. Nobody actually hurt me, like they did Melba. One day, she was in chemistry lab and her class was just finishing up some kind of experiment. I guess the teacher turned around for a second, but it was just long enough for one of the white boys to throw some left over stuff from the experiment on her. Now, I don’t know if he knew it or not, but it was acid. And I don’t know if he meant to or not, but he got it in her eyes. I guess I just like to believe that nobody could be that mean to somebody else, especially just cause of the color of their skin.

Mama and Daddy say that I’m brave. They say that because of what I did, my kids and their kids will be able to go to better school and get a better education than they did. I don’t really think I did that much, just went to school like everybody else. But I hope what they say is true.

I’ll try to write down some more about it later. Maybe I’ll even write a book about it, if enough people are interested one day, but right now Mama’s callin’ me for dinner.

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