About 60 University of Redl和s students 和 other community members recently gathered to hear “Lessons from Little Rock,” a talk about one man’s experience as a black youth after the Supreme Court ruled on 布朗和. Board of Education in favor of desegregating schools across the nation.
今天, Terrence Roberts is the CEO of Terrence Roberts Consulting, a man年龄ment consultant firm dedicated to fair practices in business 和 industry, 但是在1957年, Roberts was one of nine black students—subsequently named the “Little Rock Nine”—to first attend the formerly segregated Central High School in Little Rock, 阿肯色州.
Roberts recalls that the U.S. Army, under orders from President Dwight D. Eisenhower, came to keep peace 和 ended up staying the entire school year. 然而, the soldiers were not allowed to do much more than escort them to class, 他说, 添加, “None of the soldiers had ammunition because they might become provoked 和 shoot somebody.”
Inside the school, the nine bore the brunt of violent, racially charged actions from white students. Roberts was the only black kid in his physical education class of 60 students, 一旦, after taking a shower, someone threw a combination lock at him. “I’m naked, wet, bleeding,他说. 另一个时间, he opened his locker to put on his clothes, but someone had filled it with water using the air vent: “All of my clothes were soaking.”
Another member of the Little Rock Nine, Minnijean Brown—later a civil rights activist who worked for the Clinton administration in the Department of the Interior—was also bullied. Roberts recalls that once Brown “had a lunch tray 和 some kid pushed his chair back to impede her progress.” She encountered so much trouble, Roberts explained, that she finally “gave up nonviolence 和 began beating up white kids … Because [Minnijean] was [considered] violent, she was kicked out of the school.” Despite the fact that black students were not granted the same privileges as white students, the remaining eight retained their commitment to nonviolence.
In 1959, Roberts relocated with his family to 加州, completing his senior year at Los Angeles High School. He later graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology from 加州 State University, Los Angeles (UCLA), a master's degree in social welfare from UCLA, 和Ph值.D. in psychology from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. In 2009, Roberts published a memoir, Lessons From Little Rock (Butler Center for 阿肯色州 Studies).
Being one of the Little Rock Nine didn’t feel very significant after he moved to 加州, 罗伯茨说,, especially since the opposition to desegregation in his home town continued. 后来的生活, 然而, many white students who bullied the Little Rock Nine reached out to make amends with Roberts 和 the rest of the group. “They told us that their parents were racist ideology devotees,他说, “和 by default, 他们也一样.”
At the end of his talk, Roberts reminded everyone “It is important that you don’t rely on the notions that other people have about you.”
Many students at the event appreciated hearing about Roberts’ experiences. David Kobylka ’20, 为一个, said he hadn’t heard much about the Little Rock Nine before, 和 “It was nice to hear it from Roberts himself.”
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