t i o n Keynote Speaker:
Ernest Green
Born in Little Rock, Ark. in 1941, Ernest Green rose to prominence when he and eight other students tried to enroll in the white Central High School. Their decision to enter Central came on the heel of the historic 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, which declared that segregation in public education is illegal. The students became known as the “Little Rock Nine.” After earning his diploma, Green went on to receive his bachelors and masters degrees from Michigan State University. He has also been awarded honorary doctorates from three colleges. He has been an Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training during the Carter Administration. He has spent most of his professional career as an investment banker. Information courtesy of: Mississippi State University Department of Communications; Photo courtesy of American Program Bureau, Inc.
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By Joe Lee Pho t og r aph y b y Divian Conner
ive years before James Meredith became the first African American student at Ole Miss, an Arkansas high school student named Ernest Green – along with eight other African Americans – attempted to integrate Central High School in Little Rock. The students became known as the “Little Rock Nine,” making national news when Governor Orval Faubus refused their enrollment before President Dwight Eisenhower intervened and ordered the state of Arkansas to admit them. Green, who went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Social Science and a Master’s in Sociology from Michigan State University, joined Lehman Brothers in 1987 and is the Managing Director for Public Finance in the company’s Washington, D.C. office. In December 1999, President Bill Clinton presented him with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor given to a civilian. As part of Black History Month, Green, now 72, will give the keynote address at MSU on Thursday, February 27. february
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