The Hofstra
HEMPSTEAD, NY VOL. 79
Issue 9
Chronicle
THURSDAY November 7, 2013
KEEPING THE HOFSTRA COMMUNITY INFORMED SINCE 1935
Little Rock Nine
Legacy
Briana Smith/The Chronicle Ernest Green spoke at Hofstra on Tuesday about his experience being one of nine African American students to attend the Little Rock high school in Arkansas. He spoke with a member of student media before the event, Jeanine Russaw, pictured above.
Civil rights activist visits Hofstra By Shannon Nia Alomar staff writer
For Ernest Gideon Green, high school was defined with police and angry mobs. He shared this experience with eight other African-American students who together became known as the historical and influential Little Rock Nine.
On Tuesday, the NAACP Hofstra Chapter, the Hofstra Cultural Center and the New Opportunities at Hofstra (NOAH) Program held an event to allow the Hofstra community to listen to Green speak about what it meant to be a part of the movement that he believed helped to open the door for future students. Along with Green, the students involved were Minnijean Brown,
Terrence Roberts, Elizabeth Eckford, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Patillo, Gloria Ray, Jefferson Thomas and Carlotta Walls. They attempted to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. Their mission was to be a test case for the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brown vs. the Board of education in the early 1950s. Green expressed to student
media outlets that every generation should find a conventional issue they are willing to combat or take a stand on. “It was apparent they did not want me, or any other of the Little Rock Nine students there, but for some reason the way they got all flustered about our presence made me realize that this was more than going to school, this was the beginning of something
much greater,� Green said. Alaysia Williams, junior health science major and NAACP Hofstra Chapter public relations chair, expressed her admiration for Green at the reception dinner that was held on the 10th floor of the Axinn Library.
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