By CHASITY WEBB
Assistant Features Editor
The past of America can sometimes be disheartening, especially when one looks at the hundreds of years when African Americans were treated horrendously. As a matter of fact, horrendous doesn’t even begin to cover it.
What makes matters worse is that it took so long for America to fix its injustices.
It wasn’t even until Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 that segregation in schools was deemed unconstitutional. Even during that time there was resistance.
When Terrence Roberts was 13, he went into a Krystal hamburger joint to order a meal to-go since he wasn’t allowed to eat in the restaurant, and spontaneously sat down to wait. It was at this point that, according to www.facinghistory.org, that Roberts says he “woke up… I can’t explain to you even today how and why that happened.
“It was kind of an ordinary 13-year-old thing to do while I waited. But then, everything in that restaurant stopped.
“All the heads swiveled in my direction. Without a word, I got that non-verbal message ‘Boy you better get some sense in your head.’”
According to what he said at a 2007 benefit, Roberts decided he could no longer follow the rules of segregation although he knew that would put him in danger.
A couple of years later, he was given the opportunity to fight segregation by becoming one of the Little Rock Nine.
The Little Rock Nine were nine African American students who were to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. In 1957, Roberts and eight other students were planning on attending Central, but Gov. Orval Faubus had other plans and ordered the Army National Guard to block the students from entering the school. President Eisenhower sent federal troops to protect the students.
On Sept. 20, Judge Ronald N. Davies allowed the NAACP lawyers, Thurgood Marshall and Wiley Branton, the right to stop Gov. Faubus from using military forces to prevent the students from entering.
On Sept. 23, the Little Rock Nine, each with their own patroller from the 101st Airborne Division, entered the rear of the school.
A mob was stationed out front. The patrollers stayed with the students throughout their first day of school.
However, the students were still beat by other white students throughout the day.
After a couple of weeks, the patrollers departed and the students were left to defend themselves. Many know how this story ends, but many don’t.
Now you will have a chance to hear Roberts’ firsthand account of the events that happened in September 1957, as well as how the rest of the school year went. Roberts is scheduled to be the keynote speaker for Black History Month, 6 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 25, in the Music/Mass Communications Building Concert Hall.
The event is open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. Afterwards, Roberts will be available for questions and signing of his book “Lessons from Little Rock,” published in October 2009. The book can be purchased in the campus bookstore or Thursday night with cash or check only.
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