Eisenhower sends troops to enforce Little Rock school desegregation

President Dwight D. Eisenhower orders federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, on September 24, 1957, after Governor Orval Faubus uses the Arkansas National Guard to block nine Black students from entering Central High School. Eisenhower federalizes the Arkansas National Guard and sends the 101st Airborne Division to enforce a federal court desegregation order. The Little Rock Nine enter school under military protection. Federal power directly confronts state resistance to Brown v. Board of Education and shows how violent opposition shaped school desegregation.