State government officials met with Gov. Sarah Sanders and guests at the Arkansas State Capitol Friday morning to mark 20 years of the monument to the Little Rock Nine.
The sculpture is the most visited monument on the capitol grounds, and enshrines the fight for desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock.
The statue depicts the nine students as they walked to the doors of the school in September of 1957.
Elizabeth Eckford, who first made that walk, said at the ceremony that the students’ struggles did not end just because they were allowed into the building.
"We did not experience integration. Integration did not happen. In fact, the school district continued to operate a dual school system until the 1970s. What we experienced was desegregation. And the first year was tumultuous, because we were pummeled daily, and surrounded by hate speech everywhere.”
Eckford said when she looks at the statues, she is always impressed with how the body language of the moment was captured in their likenesses.
She said she wanted to be remembered for her persistence, stressing the importance of telling the full story of Arkansas’ racial history.
“I want to be remembered, not as a brave person, but as one who just kept coming back to school despite knowing that it wasn't going to get better," said Eckford. "We can never have true racial reconciliation until we honestly acknowledge our painful, but shared past. Not mythmaking, not pretty stories, but the real truth”
Sanders spoke at the event, saying the nine paved the way for all that came after them.
"I'm a Central High graduate, and thanks to Eckford and the Little Rock Nine, by the time I got to campus 40 years later, Central High School was not just one of the best high schools in the state, it was also one of the most diverse, with students from literally every single walk of life.”
The monument was sculpted by husband and wife John and Kathy Deering. They shared their memories of the work that went into capturing the likenesses of the group. John Deering said the placement of the statue in itself carries a certain significance.
"There were some who felt that it would be most appropriate to be placed at central. We felt, and most importantly the Little Rock Nine themselves, felt that it should be here on the State Capitol grounds, forever facing the governor's office," said Deering. "Taking that long walk and proving that sometimes being terrified and overcoming that fear is what’s most important”
Of the nine Black students that made their way to Central High School in 1957, two have since passed away.
Jefferson Thomas died in 2010, while Thelma Mothershed-Wair passed away in 2024.
Closing the ceremony, current students of Central High shared quotes from each member of the Little Rock Nine, and placed a medal on their statue to commemorate the event.
