Process+Paper

When I was in third grade, I was reading a "//Time for Kids//" news magazine. It had a large article about the Little Rock Nine, and I found it to be a very different and unique news story on the topic on school desegregation, about which I knew very little. Two years later I went to the National History Day state contest for my brother, and I watched a documentary about Brown vs. Board of Education. In that documentary it talked about the Little Rock Nine students, and I knew what I wanted to do. Later last year I found out what the topic was going to be, and I began to research about each person in the Little Rock Nine. I knew that I had to come down to just one individual. I found the picture from Will Count with Elizabeth Eckford in the crowd. That struck me, and I decided she was the one.

When I started my research I looked on the Internet. I found a lot of the same basic information continuously, so I decided that I better try something else. I went to my public library and found 10 primary source books, all on the civil rights movement. They had sections on Elizabeth Eckford. I read them over and also searched the Omaha public library and found 1 book. Each of these books were different and told in-depth information on Eckford.

Then I started to make my board by first making a list of what I wanted to put on it. Then I made a small diagram of where I would put the pictures, the words, the title, and everything else. I messed around with what I wanted to say. Once I decided I started to type all the words that I needed, and had my mom proofread them. Then I started to find the pictures online and in books that I wanted. I photocopied and cut them to the size I wanted. Then I cut out giant letters that I was using for the title. Soon I cut and glued on a backround for the letters and pictures. I placed everything where I wanted to put them, then started to glue. Then finally I practiced in front of my imaginary audience and parents until I felt ready.

My project relates to the theme in many ways. One of my two main topics is that Elizabeth and the other eight students made it so African Americans were given the right to go to a public school. If they hadn't stood up and tried it, there wouldn't have been many others that would have taken that much of a risk. It's a large turning point in history. My other topic was their first day. It was probably the worst of many more to come. The way that all nine Little Rock students, and one in particular, reacted to desegregation showed me that they were truly great heroes in the civil rights movements.