Although Brown vs Board of Education was a major victory, black people still had to fight to get the law enforced. In 1954, only two southern states, Texas and Arkansas, had begun to desegregate. Arkansas, for a southern state seemed very progressive. Their buses, parks, and libraries were already integrated. Black people were registered to vote and, as early as 1948, the University of Arkansas had allowed black people to enter their law and medical programs. Many people thought that in Arkansas the Supreme Court decision would make the easiest transition out of all the southern states, but it turned out to be one of the worst.

In Little Rock, the school board was willing to comply with the decision and had already made plans to gradually desegregate its school. However, during the Summer, the feeling in Little Rock changed and the white public began to express their anger towards desegregation. In an effort to stem the public's anger, the school board trimmed the seventy-five black students, who had registered to go to the city's Central High School, down to nine. The nine 'good black' students were Jefferson Thomas, Carlotta Walls, Gloria Ray, Elizabeth Eckford, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Pattillo, Terrance Roberts, Minnijean Brown and Ernest Green. They would become known as the Little Rock Nine and their impact would change the role of the federal government, during the Civil Rights Movement, from being a cautious viewer to becoming an active participant.

The first day the students tried to enter Central High School they were forced to turn back because of the threats from the white mob that had gathered at the school and because of the presence of the Arkansas National Guard that had been ordered to duty by Governor Orval Faubus. Eight of the nine students had gone together that first day and one, Elizabeth Eckford, had gone alone earlier that day. They all were supposed to meet at the home of NAACP president Daisy Bates but word never reached the Eckford home, so she went alone. At the school, she was met by the same white mob and gaurdsman that the others would face later. After she was denied admittance, she tried to get away from the mob, which had become even more unruly. She saw a bus stop and headed for it, hoping to get relief from them. They followed. While she sat afraid at the bus stop, she was approached by, as "Eyes" states, "...a white woman named Grace Lorch, whose husband [Lee Lorch] taught at a local black college, [who] guided [her] away from the mob." The two then found a bus and Lorch accompanied Eckford home safely.

After repeated attempts to enter the school, the students would finally succeed. On September 23, 1957, the students, with the aid of local police, entered the school through a side door away from the mob. However, they would not be able to remain there for the entire day. The mob had grown in size and was threatening to come in the school. School officials thought it would be better, and for the safety of the Little Rock Nine, if they were taken out of the school. So, after spending time contemplating how to do this, the students were rushed out of school and driven away by the same police force that had brought them there. NAACP president Daisy Bates became infuriated with difficulty that the students faced trying to attend the school and said that they would not return until the President of the United States assured them of their safety.