A little more than a half century ago, nine teenagers in Little Rock, Ark., challenged screaming mobs and the established racial barriers in public schools by enrolling at an all-white school — a watershed moment for civil rights in the United States.
The women and men of the Little Rock Nine will be honored by Marquette today with the Père Marquette Discovery Award, the highest honor the university bestows. The award has only been given four times previously, the most recent in 2003 to Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Seven of the nine members of the Little Rock Nine are expected to be present at the ceremony: Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas and Minnijean Brown Trickey. Melba Pattillo Beals and Thelma Mothershed Wair will not be attending because of health reasons.
The ceremony will take place at 4 p.m. in the Varsity Theatre, 1324 W. Wisconsin Ave. Tickets are no longer available, though the event will be presented live on the Marquette’s Web site and simulcast in the Weasler Auditorium. Following the presentation of the award, Mike Gousha, distinguished fellow in law and public policy, will interview the Little Rock Nine.
Three years after the 1954 landmark court case Brown v. Board of Education, the nine teenagers, protected by the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army, entered Central High School in Little Rock on Sept. 25, 1957.
Steven Frieder, assistant to University President the Rev. Robert A. Wild, was part of the committee that unanimously nominated the nine for the prestigious award.
“These men and women were nine true heroes for justice and advocates for educational access, at a time when society really did not accept what they were doing,” Frieder said.
Frieder said Marquette is honoring the Little Rock Nine because of what they were fighting for.
“Marquette was founded as an institution to educate the children of immigrants and those who had a hard time getting educated,” he said.
“It was founded to educate people who weren’t really wealthy,” he added. “Marquette University believes they really contributed to the courageous advancement of justice in higher education despite societal norms. Marquette, in being the first Catholic university accepting women, honors this with the rare, high award.”
The integration of Central High in 1957 left an impression on one particular Marquette professor.
James Scotton, associate professor of journalism in the College of Communication, was 25 when the nine teenagers challenged segregation at Central High. At the time, Scotton was working for a newspaper in Washington, D.C.
“People were afraid of change,” he recalled. “It was scary for people, especially those young kids.”
Born in 1932 and stationed in South Carolina during the Korean War, Scotton said he recalled being shocked by segregation, but amazed at how quickly change happened after the Little Rock Nine integration.
“This was an enormously important change,” he said. “It was the first time the federal government enforced an integration order in the Deep South, and much of the uneducated public was against it at the time.”
“Looking at today, the way change has come really is amazing,” he added.
At Marquette, the ceremony comes during the Centennial Celebration of Women at Marquette, as well as the 40th anniversary of the Educational Opportunity Program, which assists low-income and first generation college students in attending Marquette.
Tickets to the event quickly became unavailable because of high demand at the beginning of the semester, according to Andy Brodzeller, media relations specialist in the Office of Marketing and Communication.
Frieder said the valor of the Little Rock Nine is emphasized when taken in context of the larger civil rights movement.
“When they took their stand, it was before the sit-ins, before the Freedom Rides, before the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech,” Frieder said. “What they did really was prophetic and courageous to the highest degree, and they did it when they were younger than (college students).”
