Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Little Rock http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/09/littlerock200709
Today is the 50th anniversary of Little Rock. Above is the famous photo by Will Counts (above), the caption to which reads:
Elizabeth Eckford, followed and taunted by an angry crowd after she was denied entrance to Little Rock Central High School, September 4, 1957. The girl in the light dress behind her is Hazel Bryan. Will Counts/Arkansas History Commission.
Vanity Fair has an indepth article on the lives of those two women, which makes for a fascinating tale of racism and redemption in its own right. And yet, the story doesn't quite have a happy ending:
Central High School looks as imposing as ever, but over the past 50 years, its innards have changed unimaginably: the school is now more than half black. It's all misleading, of course, because Central is really two different schools, separate and unequal, under one roof. The blacks go to different classes, sit on separate sides of the cafeteria, have different, and far lower, levels of performance and expectations.
There's a long way to go before the Cosby Show/Different World reality becomes mainstream.
Labels: Racism
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