RSS
Home
Q & A with Carlotta Walls Lanier
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
At 14, Carlotta Walls Lanier was the youngest member of the "Little Rock Nine." The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine African-American students who integrated Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas.
On September 25, 1957 the U.S. Army acted as bodyguards for the nine students so they could enter the school as mandated by the Supreme Court 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision. From that September day, the nine would have to endure physical harassment and verbal slurs daily.
In "A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School." Lanier gives her personal account of that experience.
This past Thursday at the Langston Hughes branch of the Queens Library, Lanier read excerpts from her book. Following the reading, Lanier took questions from the audience. Here is a selection of some of her answers.
Q: Did some of the students try to be helpful?
A: There were some students who as we walked by them in the hallway, would give us shy smiles. I think they were ashamed that white people could do they things we were forced to take. Sometimes they would quietly hand us a note of encouragement or apology.
The majority of the students at Central fell into the third group: those who kept silent. They wanted all of the trouble to end. They did not torment us, but they didn't extend themselves to us in anyway either. They did not want to be associated with one side or another. They chose to remain neutral, as if remaining neutral in the face of evil was an acceptable and just choice.
This group are the ones today--when you ask them what happened, say things weren't as bad as all that at Central.
Q: What were some of the coping mechanism that you used to deal with what you faced?
A: Well, I had to walk quickly to try and avoid the students who followed me to step on the back of my heels. If those students wanted a piece of my heels, they were going to have to work hard for it.
Years later, I found out the National Guardsmen who acted as my escorts used to complain about me because I walked too fast. (slight smile)
Q: What was your opinion of the role the media played on the situation back in 1957?
A: The media... I didn't really like them. At the time they filled in the blanks to our story. We helped to make the careers of (John) Chancellor, (Peter) Jennings and the one from Texas---yeah (Dan) Rather. You have to remember that we were one of their first big stories and I often thought they should be thanking us.
Governor Orval Farbus was defying Federal law and undermining the executive branch. If the media hadn't been there though, President Eisenhower wouldn't have sent in the 101st (Airborne Division--U.S. Army). The images on TV showed something needed to be done.
So the media pressure led to the 101st, which ensured we got into school and were protected.
Q (Chan): Two questions. What is something essential about your experience that the documentaries and history books fail to capture? Also, could you please talk a little about Eugene Smith.
A: My parents used to stay that if you have money and somebody comes over and hits you over the head they can take your money away. But when you learn, no one can take away your education.
I loved school, field trips and getting the opportunity to see and touch those things I had learned about in the classroom.
Education is the key to success.
Eugene Smith was the acting police chief in Little Rock. He was very helpful to us. He had officers infiltrate groups who were plotting harm against us. Through Daisy Bates (then president of the Arkansas chapter of the NAACP) he would say, tell Carlotta to stay away from a certain floor--etc.
In 1959, he became police chief. It was the end of summer session. He was one of the first police officers through water-hoses on reduced pressure to breakup rioters. Not like the way Bull Connor used them in Birmingham (Alabama). Connor should have been arrested for that. Smith got the point across that didn't take the skin off people.
So I felt Chief Smith was kind of watching over us. It was March 1960, just before my family's home was bombed. I was reading the newspaper and found out that he died. The newspaper story said it was a murder/suicide--that he had killed his wife and then took his own life.
I've never believed that. Thought I can't prove otherwise. I believe it was their way of silencing him.
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
