The Civil Rights Act of 1957
Meanwhile, northern political leaders pushed the Civil
Rights Act of 1957 through
Congress, even in the wake of the events in Montgomery and encountering
extreme opposition to Brown v. Board of Education.
Eisenhower signed the bill, but only after promising southern conservatives
that the bill would have little real impact on their daily lives.
Although the new bill established a Civil Rights Commission in
an attempt to protect black voting rights, the commission made little
significant difference in the lives of black southerners. Still,
the Civil Rights Act of 1957 was
the first major civil rights legislation passed since Reconstruction,
and its passage was symbolic because it signified the growing importance
of the civil rights movement at the federal level.
The Little Rock Crisis
Facing a tough reelection campaign in 1957,
Arkansas governor Orval Faubus capitalized on the Brown controversy
by defying the federal court order to desegregate public schools.
Faubus positioned Arkansas National Guardsmen outside Central
High School in Little Rock to prevent nine black students
from entering. He then organized an angry white mob outside the
school to protest integration and attack black reporters.
Although Eisenhower himself opposed integration, Faubus’s decision
to challenge federal authority forced the president to intervene
on behalf of the students and end the Little Rock crisis.
Eisenhower placed the National Guard under federal authority and
sent 1,000 U.S.
Army troops to disband the mob and escort the students to class.
Still defiant, Faubus closed all public schools in the city for the
remainder of the year to prevent “disorder.”
