Little Rock Nine Student Speaks with Library Crowd; “‘Quit’ is not in my vocabulary”
Carlotta Walls LaNier speaks via Zoom to Westporter Steve Parrish and guests during an interview about her life and triumphs. WestportLocal.com photo“Since I see that you’re all in a library: I could not go to the city library” Carlotta Walls LaNier said to the attendees sitting in the Westport Library’s Trefz Forum as she began her discussion via Zoom. “I never even had a new book. Only hand-me-downs.”
La Nier, now of Denver, CO, described her experience as the youngest member of the Little Rock Nine through a conversation with Westporter and friend Steve Parrish. Attendees were able to listen to LaNier as she spoke about her “three 1st days of school” as she attempted to become one of the first black students to join Central High School in Little Rock Arkansas in ‘57 - the infamous period of integration that led to not only displays of hatred towards LaNier and her eight peers, but acts of support as the military were called in to act as personal bodyguards for the high schoolers. “We were excited” she began. “[Central High School"] was one of the top 40 high schools in the country. It was awarded the ‘most beautiful’” she said as she reminisced back to when she initially found out she could join the high school.
When she found out that the Arkansas National Guard were being called in for their first day of school, she initially thought it was to protect her. “That was not the case” she explained as she told listeners how she was turned away from the school on the first day of school. On their second attempt at starting school - they entered the building late through a side door, but were later evacuated from their classrooms mid-lesson by police officers who covered the Little Rock Nine in blankets as they drove them out of the school’s basement loading dock, past the awaiting protesters. Days later, President Eisenhower called in the 101st Airborne to act as their personal bodyguards, allowing them to finally begin school nearly one month late. “We felt honored to have the screaming eagles as our protectors.”
Once in school, she immediately excelled despite being tripped, spit on, and having personal belongings destroyed or stolen. “I had to be spot on” she exclaimed when Parrish brought up her honor roll award and then her 1960 graduation from the high school. “I didn’t have friends to call for help after school if I didn’t understand what the teacher said.” LaNier was the first black woman to receive a diploma from Central High School.
Through conversation with Parrish, LaNier admitted that she never liked the spotlight after her graduation - going thirty years before even speaking publicly about her experience in Little Rock. However a conversation with a Colorado history class changed her mind when she described how “One white boy turned red when he asked me ‘why is it that as an 11th grader, I haven’t heard of the Little Rock Nine before?’”. “I realized it was up to me to help teach others about what happened.” she continued.
She solidified this goal before the 7:00 PM Zoom call with library guests with a 6:00 PM Zoom call with Westport Public School students, who had the opportunity to listen to her story and ask questions. “Quit is not in my vocabulary” she told the students.
According to the National Women’s Hall of Fame, “After graduating from Central High in 1960, she studied at Michigan State University for two years before moving to Colorado. She enrolled at the University of Northern Colorado and earned her bachelor’s degree in 1968. She, along with the other members of the Little Rock Nine, is the recipient of the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, awarded by President Bill Clinton in 1999, the prestigious Spingarn Medal from the NAACP, and the Lincoln Leadership Prize awarded by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation. LaNier is a recipient of four honorary doctorate degrees and is an inductee into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame.”