Carlotta Wells LaNier

Carlotta Walls LaNier, at age 14, was the youngest of the nine courageous Black students known as the Little Rock Nine who integrated Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their integration of the Arkansas high school was a pivotal moment in the American Civil Rights Movement, directly testing the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), which declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

LaNier’s continued attendance, which resulted in her being the first Black woman to graduate from Central High School, resulted in continued hardship,

That hardship is detailed in an essay, written by LaNier, and is in the Collection.