Elizabeth Eckford Visit at Main Street Visual and Performing Arts Magnet School

As the final event of the first annual Hot Springs Book Festival, special guest Elizabeth Eckford will speak in the auditorium of Main Street Visual and Performing Arts Magnet School, on Saturday, April 9th, at 4pm.  The school is located at 701 Main Street in Hot Springs.

After 60 years, the most dramatic image from the 1957 desegregation crisis at Little Rock Central High School remains that of Elizabeth Eckford, a fifteen-year-old student taunted as she walked through a hate-filled mob on the first attempt to integrate the school. Today, Ms. Eckford recalls how difficult it was for her parents, Oscar and Birdie, to allow her to continue the struggle to integrate the Little Rock schools.

After Governor Faubus closed Little Rock’s high schools in 1958, Ms. Eckford moved to St Louis and completed her graduation requirements. She attended Knox College in Illinois and received a B.A. in History from Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. Ms. Eckford, a U.S. Army veteran, has worked as a test administrator, unemployment interviewer and military reporter. Along with her fellow Little Rock Nine members, she is a recipient of the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal and the prestigious Congressional Gold Medal.

Ms. Eckford continues to walk through the painful past in sharing some of her story. She has said that true reconciliation can occur if we honestly look back on our shared history. Ms. Eckford believes that the lessons learned from Little Rock Central High School must continue to be shared with new generations, reminding audiences that “the dead can be buried, but not the past.”

Registration is not required, however seating is first come, first-served. Doors open at 3:30pm, Ms. Eckford’s introduction is scheduled to start at 4pm.