Teacher Workshop – 4 Hours In-Service Credit in Arkansas History

The Lost Year

Synopsis:
The summer after the 1957 Central High desegregation crisis, Governor Orval Faubus used a new law passed by the legislature to close the public high schools of Little Rock and avoid further desegregation.  Two weeks later, the majority of voters in the city voted against integration and kept the schools closed for the remainder of the year.  The 1958-59 school year is known as the "Lost Year" in Arkansas history.  While an organized group of women fought to reopen the schools and the NAACP continued the battle in the courtroom, Little Rock’s high school students had to find alternative means of education, including transferring to other school districts, attending private and boarding schools, or sitting out a year.  Some moved to other communities to live with relatives or friends in order to attend high school, while some did not graduate at all. 

The legacy of this tumultuous year can still be seen 50 years after these events.  This workshop, hosted by the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, will exam the Lost Year through lesson plans, classroom activities, and open forum discussion on the use of propaganda to encourage or discourage the integration of Little Rock's high schools.  The workshop also will look at the alternatives open to high school students that emerged in 1958-1959 that may still be found in Little Rock in the 21st century.

For more information or to schedule a workshop for your district, please call the site's historian at 501-396-3000 or email us.