Have you heard of Ernest Green? Little Rock Nine? I am sure in my American History class we studied the Little Rock Nine at some point but I know it got lost among everything else I studied that year. My husband grew up in Little Rock and he is the one who told me about the Disney movie The Ernest Green Story. I'm so glad he did. It's a story we all need to know and remember.
In 1957 and 1958, Little Rock, Arkansas became ground zero in the segregation battle. The Supreme court had ruled in 1954 that separate was not equal and that desegregation must occur "with all deliberate speed". Little Rock had already begun the desegration process. They had desegregated it's public buses, zoo, the library and parks. The Little Rock school board had decided the high school would be integrated in 1957, the junior high the next year and elementary schools the following year. 7 out of the 8 state universities had also been integrated. Everyone thought integration at the high school would be fairly easy.
There wouldn't be an Ernest Green Story though if the integration had been fairly easy. The Governor of Arkansas called in the National Guard to block the entrance on the first day of school for the nine students and that began a battle that waged all year. The movie tells the story of how these kids, their families and supporters went up against pure evil and triumphed.
Go watch this movie. Go learn their story! If you are like me, you will spend a lot of the movie just wanting to hit someone but you will also see God work through "average" people to battle against injustice.
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