Little Rock - Central High

My nose is buried in a book.

Elizabeth and Hazel:  Two Women of Little Rock

The book is about this picture....

courtesy of the New York Times

The black girl is Elizabeth Eckford.  The jeering white girl is Hazel Bryan Massery.

This is clearly one second in the lives of the women, but this one second has transformed their lives and linked them forever.

I have seen this picture hundreds of times.  I knew about the fifteen year old Elizabeth Eckford.  I don't know why, but I am surprised that these are fifteen year old girls.  They seem so much older.

But I never really gave much thought into what happened after this snapshot.  I knew that the "Little Rock Nine" (as they are called) were able to attend the school.  I never took time to research the Little Rock Nine's experiences as pioneers.

The book  answers the following questions:
Who are they?  What are their educational backgrounds?  Their upbringing?
What were their thoughts during this event?
Why Elizabeth?  Was she the "Rosa Parks" for this cause?  Was she determined to be the person to symbolize this movement?  Did she attend workshops on civil disobedience?
What happened in the hours after this photo?  What about the next day?  The next year?  Forty years later?
How were their lives impacted by this one incident?  What about the "spectators"?
Why did her parents allow her to go back to this school?
What are Oprah's thoughts?  LOL

Another view - courtesy of Commercial Appeal

A must read!