The nine young men and women who sought to integrate Little Rock High School are:

    Minnijean Brown Ricky
    Elizabeth Eckford
    Ernest Green
    Thelma Mothershed
    Melba Pattillo Beals
    Gloria Ray Karlmark
    Terrance Roberts
    Jefferson Thomas
    Carlotta Walls Lanier

  In 1999, they received the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor from President William Clinton, a former governor of Arkansas.  Melba Pattillo Beals has written two books on her experiences and they are available at Kennedy Library.  Daisy Bates who helped the children died in 2004 at age 84.  She also was instrumental in desegregating the Little Rock bus system in 1956.

In the film, "Fighting Back," which shows the events around the integration of the school, the woman who assisted Elizabeth Eckford on the first day of class when she faced a mob alone is Grace Lorch.

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