In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Acknowledgments As a current editorial board member of the Arkansas Historical Quarterly I am delighted that this volume is able to showcase the journal’s vital role in state and regional history. I am grateful to the current editor, Patrick G. Williams, and assistant editor Michael Pierce for running with my idea of a special edition to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Little Rock school crisis, supporting the project enthusiastically, and doing much of the legwork to get it completed. They were ably assisted in this task by Cody Hackett who worked on retyping pre-word-processor articles and creating the index. The hidden hand of many editors past who worked with the original manuscripts republished here, and whose keen eye and hard work this book likewise depends upon, is also gratefully acknowledged. The first post-schoolcrisis editor, Walter L. Brown, served from 1959 to 1990 and published the first article on the crisis by Numan V. Bartley in 1966 while Gov. Orval Faubus was still in office. Jeannie M. Whayne succeeded him from 1990 to 2005, and David L. Chappell guest edited the fortieth anniversary volume in 1997. Gretchen Gearhart served as assistant editor between 1992 and 1999. The publication of the fiftieth anniversary special edition of the journal to allow it wider circulation and attention was achieved with the help and support of the University of Arkansas Press. Director of the press, Larry Malley, very generously provided me with an office in the McIlroy House while I was on research leave in the autumn of 2007, which allowed me to work closely with those involved in the journal-to-book copyediting process. It was a pleasure to have the benefit of the professional experience and convivial company of the press team: Mike Bieker, David Scott Cunningham, Brian King, Melissa King, Tom Lavoie, Tabitha Lee, Charlie Moss, and Julie Watkins. Thanks are also due to Carol Sickman-Garner for her careful proofreading of the book manuscript. I am of course grateful to all of the authors whose work is republished in this book, which has influenced my own research on the subject: Numan V. Bartley, David L. Chappell, Tony A. Freyer, Azza Salama Layton, Neil McMillen, Roy Reed, and Lorraine Gates Schuyler. Ben F. Johnson’s final essay is a valuable and generous original contribution. This book is dedicated to the Little Rock Nine, without whose courage and bravery none of this would have been possible. It is also dedicated to the often overlooked contributions of their parents and families, to their NAACP mentors Daisy and L. C. Bates, and to all those who supported them—some of whose stories are known and others whose are yet to be written. ...

Share