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Wednesday and Saturday Events
The Wednesday and Saturday event costs are not included in your conference registration
and must be paid for separately.
Wednesday Night
Join us Wednesday night for a trip to Central High and the new Visitors' Center
and a light buffet dinner afterwards at Curran Hall.
On the morning of September 23, 1957 nine African American teenagers stood
up to an angry crowd protesting integration in front of Little Rock's Central
High as they entered the school for the first time. This event, broadcast around
the world, made Little Rock the site of the first important test of the U.S.
Supreme Court’s historic Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision.
Arkansas became the epitome of state resistance when the governor, Orval Faubus,
directly questioned the authority of the federal court system and the validity
of desegregation; rather than integrate, the schools closed for the '58-59 school
year. That same year, the Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools formed
in order to force the re-opening of schools. By August 1959, the public
schools re-opened, but not without continued public dissent.
The crisis at Little Rock's Central High School forced the nation to resolve
to enforce African American civil rights in the face of massive southern defiance
during the years following the Brown decision.
LRCHS was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 19,
1977, and was designated a National Historic Landmark on May 20, 1982. In 1997,
during the 40th anniversary celebration, the Little Rock Nine were recognized
by President Clinton for their service to the country. On November 6, 1998,
Congress established Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
and the Little Rock Nine were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor
on November 9, 1999. Two of the Nine, Minniejean Trickey Brown and Elizabeth
Eckford, reside in Little Rock; the others live out of state/country.
Central High is a functioning school and often graduates the most National
Merit Finalists and National Achievement winners in Arkansas. Graduating seniors
usually receive over $4 million in scholarships each year. Central has had seven
Presidential Scholars in last decade and 49 AP Scholars in 2002-03.
The 50th anniversary will be commemorated by the opening of a new Visitors
Center. The new 10,078 square-foot Visitor Center will be constructed on the
northeast corner of South Park Street and Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive.
The Visitor Center will be devoted to telling the story of the Crisis.
After our trip to the Visitor Center, we will have a light buffet dinner at
Curran Hall, a beautifully restored historic home featuring gardens with plants
and trees true to the 1840's antebellum time period. In 1842, Col. Ebenezer
Walters built Curran Hall as a wedding gift for his bride, Mary Eliza Starbuck.
In 1849, it was purchased by James Moore Curran, a young lawyer, for his wife,
Sophie Fulton, daughter of William Savin Fulton, Arkansas' last territorial
governor and first U.S. senator. The house was purchased in 1996 by the
City of Little Rock and renovated to its current state.
references: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Central_High_School;
http://www.nps.gov/chsc/index.htm;
http://www.centralhigh57.org/
You are welcome to attend either or both of the events. Transporation
will be provided to and from all locations.
The costs of the Central High Visit and the Curran Hall buffet dinner
are not included in your conference registration. You can sign up
for these events when you register for the conference.
Saturday Social Gathering: Riverboat Tour
Join us Saturday after the conference for a riverboat tour on the famous Arkansas
Queen.
A steamboat replica with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating, the Arkansas
Queen will show you Little Rock and North Little Rock in an entirely new light.
You'll see the Clinton Center, the "Little Rock," the metropolitan
skyline, the Capitol and the beautiful parks along the shore. The Captain
will provide commentary about the river's rich history. The Arkansas River is
1,460 miles long and played a major part in the settlement of Little Rock and
Central Arkansas. The commercially navigable portion is 445 miles from where
it joins the Mississippi River to the Port of Catoosa near Tulsa, Oklahoma.
There will be plenty of time and space to chat with new and old friends while
seeing the beautiful Arkansas River.
Cost of the Riverboat Queen trip is not included in your conference
registration. You can sign up for these events when you register for the
conference.
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