U.S. Army Situation Report on Little Rock Central High School and Continued Violence During Integration (1958)

Date: March 10, 1958

Created By: The Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Military Operations

Original or Replica: Original

Era: Civil Rights, The Presidency

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: Office of the Staff Secretary, Subject Series, Alphabetical Subseries, Box 17, Little Rock Vol. I—Reports (8); NAID #17367521

This confidential U.S. Army situation report, dated March 10, 1958, documents conditions at Little Rock Central High School several months after federal troops were sent to enforce school integration. The report notes that eight Black students attended school that day and that there was no significant change in overall attendance. It also records the continued deployment of soldiers from the 153rd Infantry, with troops stationed at Central High School and additional forces held on alert at Camp Robinson.

The report also describes two incidents illustrating the continuing hostility surrounding integration. On March 7, Black student Elizabeth Eckford reported that she had been struck by fragments from a raw egg while changing classes, although she did not know who threw it. That same day, the wife of Superintendent Virgil Blossom received a threatening telephone call from an unidentified man who threatened her husband’s life. Two days later, while driving near his home, Blossom heard a gunshot and discovered evidence that his automobile had been struck by a bullet; local police investigated the incident. The document demonstrates that intimidation and violence continued well after the initial September 1957 confrontation and that military forces remained involved in maintaining security at Central High during the 1957–1958 school year.