Archive for September 4th, 2010
Today in History: September 4th, 2010
Today in History:
On September 4th 1957, Orval Faubus, then-governor of Arkansas, ordered the National Guard to prevent African American students from enrolling in Little Rock Central High School, in defiance of a unanimous decision by the SCOTUS to strike down all segregation.
Orval Faubus was a Democrat. He was adhering to the Democrat party’s near unanimous opposition to integration and equal rights for black Americans.
President Eisenhower, a Republican, was forced to federalize the Arkansas National Guard so he could order them out of the schools, and replace them with members of 101st Airborne. Not to be outdone, Faubus simlpy shut down Little Rocks schools from 1958 to 1959 to prevent black and white children from attending the same schools.
Faubus would eventually temper his stance on racial issues, but not until after his segregationist stance eventually cost him most of his political clout.
When I learned about race history in American, I never learned that the Democrat party was actually responsible for the Civil War, for the KKK, for segregation, and for the long and disgusting history of general oppression of blacks post-Civil War. As a young man I always assumed right-wing rednecks were responsible.
And I had what I consider to be a fairly conservative education, by educational standards.
What about you?
UPDATE: Adding my 2ยข — CtH
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