Follow the story of Carlotta Walls LaNier, who in 1957 at the age of
fourteen was one of nine black students who integrated the all-white
Little Rock Central High School and became known as the Little Rock
Nine.
At fourteen years old, Carlotta Walls was the youngest member of the
Little Rock Nine. The journey to integration in a place deeply against
it would not be not easy. Yet Carlotta, her family, and the other eight
students and their families answered the call to be part of the
desegregation order issued by the US Supreme Court in its 1954 Brown v.
Board of Education case.
As angry mobs protested, the students were escorted into Little Rock
Central High School by escorts from the 101st Airborne Division, which
had been called in by then-president Dwight D. Eisenhower to ensure
their safety. The effort needed to get through that first year in high
school was monumental, but Carlotta held strong. Ultimately, she became
the first Black female ever to walk across the Central High stage and
receive a diploma.
The Little Rock Nine experienced traumatic and life-changing events not
only as a group but also as individuals, each with a distinct
personality and a different story. This is Carlotta's courageous story.