December 11, 1904

Ronald Davies, the federal judge who presided over pivotal decisions in the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School, was born in Crookston, Minnesota. He completed elementary school and high school in Grand Forks, North Dakota, graduated from the University of North Dakota, and received his law degree from Georgetown University in Washington DC. Davies was first assigned to temporary duty to help ease the case load in Judge John E. Miller’s court, but his rulings had a crucial effect on the handling of the conflict between segregationist and integrationist factions in the Little Rock case.