An American Hero Has Died

Last Sunday marked the death of a modern American hero -- Jefferson Thomas. Mr. Thomas, who was 67 years old, died of pancreatic cancer. He resided in Columbus (Ohio) and was a retired accountant for the U.S. Department of Defense. He "had spent the last decade of his life doing community service, traveling to promote racial harmony and supporting young people in seeking higher education."

Some of you may be asking, "Who was Jefferson Thomas?" He was a member of the Little Rock 9. If you don't know who the Little Rock 9 were, then your knowledge of American history is sorely lacking and you should be ashamed of yourself. This country was changed forever and for the better by the bravery, decency and intelligence of the young African-American high school students who will forever be remembered as the Little Rock 9.

After the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Brown v Board of Education that segregation was a violation of the United States Constitution, it was decided to integrate Little Rock's Central High School in September of 1957. Little Rock school administrators chose nine African-American teenagers to be the first to attend the previously all-white Central High School. The students were chosen for their record of good behavior and excellent grades. Jefferson Thomas, who was 15 at the time, was one of the nine chosen.

But when the nine tried to actually enter the school, they found that the idiot and racist governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, had called out the National Guard to prevent them from entering the school. Federal courts made Faubus withdraw the National Guard, but huge crowds of racist whites kept the students from attending for another two weeks (and actually beat up some reporters sent to cover the event).

President Eisenhower finally had enough and sent the 101st Airborne troops of the United States Army to control the racist crowds and protect the young students. The troops not only escorted the young African-Americans into the school, but also escorted them to their classes for the entire school year.

But the troops could not accompany the students everywhere and they suffered a lot of physical and emotional abuse during the school year. They handled the abuse with courage and grace. The students who made up the Little Rock 9 were Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, Jefferson Thomas, Terrence Roberts, Carlotta Walls, Minnijean Brown, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Thelma Mothershed, and Melba Beals.

Ernest Green was the first of the nine to graduate from Central High School. Faubus closed the school for the 1958-59 school year in a vain effort to fight integration, but it was re-opened the next year. Jefferson Thomas and Carlotta Walls returned to the school that year and graduated from Central High School in 1961. The courageous actions of the Little Rock 9 marked the beginning of the end for segregation of schools in the South.

After graduating from Central High School, Mr. Thomas attended Wayne State University and Los Angeles State College. After serving in Vietnam with the United States Army, he finished his Bachelor's Degree at Los Angeles State College in accounting.

President Obama said, "Mr. Thomas was just a teenager when he became one of the first African-American students to enroll at Little Rock Central High School. Yet even at such a young age, he had the courage to risk his own safety, to defy a governor and a mob, and to walk proudly into that school even though it would have been far easier to give up and turn back." The president added that Thomas and his fellow students "helped open the doors of opportunity for their generation and for those that followed."

I was eleven years old at the time and watched the TV news accounts of the events in Little Rock. Even at that age, I was amazed at the courage and grace displayed by the Little Rock 9. My own high school (in Texas) finally integrated in the 1964-65 school year, when I was a senior -- after first integrating all the elementary and middle schools. Fortunately there were no mobs or violence since most people had accepted integration as the right thing by then.

But it could not have happened without the courageous actions of the Little Rock 9. They have all been heroes in my eyes for many years. Rest in peace Jefferson Thomas. You have surely earned it.