The Clinton Presidential Center is hosting a program titled “Lost Stories of Desegregation,” featuring a panel with members of the North Little Rock Six and the New Orleans Four, at 6:30 p.m. on June 26.
The stories of the North Little Rock Six and New Orleans Four are similar to that of the Little Rock Nine — a small number of Black students withstanding intense, violent resistance as they challenge racial segregation in public schools in the years following the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision — but went largely forgotten in the public consciousness for decades.
The panel will include Gail Etienne, Richard Lindsey and Gerald Persons, with moderator Pamela Smith, executive communications director for the Little Rock School District.
Etienne, one of the New Orleans four alongside Ruby Bridges, was one of the first Black students to attend the all-white McDonogh 19 Elementary School. She first attended class there on Nov. 14, 1960, the same day that Bridges integrated William Frantz Elementary School less than 3 miles away.
Lindsey and Persons are both part of the North Little Rock Six. On Sept. 9, 1957, Lindsey, Persons and four other students from the all-Black Scipio A. Jones High School attempted to integrate North Little Rock High School. They were met with violent resistance from white protestors. The North Little Rock Six enrolled again at Scipio A. Jones High School later that month, and North Little Rock schools did not integrate until 1964, 10 years after the Supreme Court declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional.
Lindsey, a former Marine, made a career as a prominent restaurateur in North Little Rock. He was the proprietor of the historic Lindsey’s Barbecue restaurant, which he purchased from his uncle, Donnie Lindsey Sr., for whom Bishop Lindsey Avenue in North Little Rock is named.
Persons, an Air Force veteran, moved to Los Angeles after attending Shorter College. He worked for Union Carbide Corporation for 30 years before retiring.
Anyone interested in attending can register online and submit questions for the panel here. The Clinton Presidential Center will also livestream the program.