A replica of the bus-stop bench at 16th and Park streets in Little Rock, where Elizabeth Eckford sought shelter from a mob protesting Central High School’s integration in 1957, was unveiled Tuesday.
The bench is a key point in a new oral history walking tour put together by the Central High Memory Project, a student-led initiative that raised more than $25,000 from donors in the community and across the nation.
The bench’s placement is the last in a series of events to commemorate the 60th school-year anniversary of the 1957-58 desegregation. The student group plans to gather interviews with more people about their reactions to the National Park site and their own experiences with discrimination.
A crowd gathered to walk from the site's visitors center to the bench. Unlike 61 years earlier, Eckford was escorted by students and park rangers to give closing remarks.
“Nobody claims to have a cure for post-traumatic stress disorder, but I don’t cry any more when taking about the past, and that is because of the efforts of students,” Eckford said.
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
Listening to part of the new oral history walking tour, put together by students pic.twitter.com/WSGp8ZeJhO
— Rachel Herzog (@rachel_herzog) September 4, 2018