Two members of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet on Tuesday traced with a sense of awe the steps taken in 1957 by the nine black students who integrated Little Rock Central High School.
“Wow,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said.
“I’ve got to bring my kids here,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said.
Both secretaries, in their first visit to Little Rock, stopped at the spot where Arkansas National Guardsmen barred the Little Rock Nine from entering the school. Soldiers escorted the students into the school three weeks later after President Dwight Eisenhower intervened.
The visit was part of Jewell’s nationwide tour commemorating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. Foxx joined her for part of Tuesday’s tour and for a meeting with area leaders including Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, Little Rock School District Superintendent Michael Poore, two members of the Little Rock Nine, and Gretchen Hall, president and chief executive officer of the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The meeting was private, but Jewell said later that much of the discussion centered on the symbiotic relationship between the departments of Transportation and the Interior.
“A lot of the discussion was about how highways can bisect cities, and they have in this city,” she said. “We also have examples of them bringing [cities] together.”
She and Foxx noted an infrastructure project in St. Louis to build a park over Interstate 44, which separates the Gateway Arch from the Old Courthouse about two blocks away. Many people visit the Arch without ever knowing how close they are to the historic courthouse where the enslaved Dred Scott sued for his and his wife’s freedom in 1846. Planners say the $380 million CityArchRiver project will make it possible to walk between the two sites.
Similarly, Jewell said, central Arkansas could pool its resources to create a more visitor-friendly experience.
“There’s a vision they have here to connect this site, Little Rock Central High School, with the Clinton library and with Hot Springs,” she said. “I think there is opportunities to connect a bike path or trail. We also heard from our local metro about the importance of bus service and getting visitors out here.”
Jewell also discussed working to get Central High designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which she said would attract significantly more international visitors.
The school and accompanying visitor center in 2014 received 115,907 visitors. Those visitors, according to the National Park Service, injected $6,500,400 into the central Arkansas economy.
It was a usual school day Tuesday afternoon at Central High, except for a contingent of Secret Service agents. Jewell brushed shoulders with students flooding the halls after the bell signaled the change of classes.
“This was one of the toughest times for [the Little Rock Nine],” said Jodi Morris, a National Park Service ranger and acting chief of interpretation at Central High. “They were kicked, spit at and worse in between classes.”
Not far from the spot where demonstrators in 1957 protested the integration of Central High, a group led by former Pulaski County Circuit Judge Marion Humphrey held signs as the two secretaries walked from the visitor center to the school. Humphrey’s sign read “Return Our Schools,” in reference to the state’s takeover of the Little Rock School District.
“They can do that?” Jewell asked later after Morris explained the district’s situation.
The tour ended, and Jewell was made aware of some of the site’s funding needs. Jewell said she was struck by the fact that the segregation battle was fought only about 60 years ago.
“We’ve come a long way, but, of course, there’s much in the news that tells us we still have a long way to go,” she said.