September 12, 1958

The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the immediate integration of Central High School in Little Rock (Pulaski County), and Governor Orval Faubus closed all four high schools in the city, interrupting the education of nearly 4,000 students and disrupting as many households and families. Faubus’s action not only locked students from their classrooms but also locked 177 teachers and administrators in the schools, where they had to fulfill their contractual obligations and appear for work, despite the empty classes. Most were soon used as substitutes in junior high and elementary schools.