Little Rock Central High School is among the “Top Ten” sites of importance on a U.S. Civil Rights Trail that includes more than 100 historic landmarks in 14 states pertinent to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, a national website announced Monday.
The announcement of six sites in Little Rock included on the trail was made at the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site Visitor Center in conjunction with the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., federal and state holiday. The website civilrightstrail.com officially launched Monday with an interactive map of the trail sites included.
“This is a really big deal,” Jim Dailey, tourism director for the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, said of the state civil rights sites being combined with historic locations in other states. “This puts us under a collective umbrella that can draw people from around the world.”
The Civil Rights Trail also coincides with the 60th school-year anniversary of nine black students desegregating Central High School under the protection of federal troops authorized by President Dwight Eisenhower. Arkansas National Guardsmen, called out by Gov. Orval Faubus, had blocked the nine students from entering Central despite a federal judge’s order to allow their attendance.
Along with Central High School, other Arkansas sites are the Little Rock Nine Memorial at the state Capitol; the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail that marks sites in Little Rock significant to the civil rights movement; the William J. Clinton Presidential Center; the Daisy Bates House; and the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center.
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.