A Life Is More Than a Moment: The Desegregation of Little Rock's Central High

These are the stunning photographs that shocked the conscience of the nation in 1957. President Dwight Eisenhower was so moved at the beating of veteran Alex Wilson that he ordered 1,200 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne to Little Rock, and he federalized the Arkansas National Guard to quell the "disgraceful occurrences." But how did it happen? Little Rock seemed an unlikely place for such violent hatred; it did not even see itself as part of the deep south and had voluntarily decided to integrate the schools. Essays by Bob McCord, Ernie Dumas, and Will Campbell chart the path leading to the crisis, as well as the impact of the crisis on the civil rights movement.Young Will Counts had only been with The Arkansas Democrat for about 3 months on that fateful Labor Day in 1957. Recently graduated from the Ernie Pyle School of Journalism at Indiana University he had been pleased to get a job with his own hometown newspaper, though he didn't expect to see much action. Little Rock, after all, was not a very large city, and didn't offer much opportunity to capture "the essential image," that elusive photographic ideal that distills an entire story into one magical image. And he knew that his preference for a small 35mm camera rather than the larger "news" cameras then in vogue meant his pictures would have to compete with those larger negatives preferred by editors everywhere.All in all, he was not expecting much from his first job. Governor Orval Faubus' surprise decision to surround Central High with Arkansas National Guard troops and prevent 9 black students from entering changed everything. The prospect of covering a major civil rights story in his own hometown was exhilarating. He headed for the school armed with a "blend-in" flannel shirt and his beloved 35mm camera. Three "Life Magazine" staffers: Francis Miller, Grey Villette, and Paul Welch found that their large cameras (and their coats and ties!) quickly identified them as outsiders. They were attacked by the mob (and adding insult to injury) arrested by the police. Will was able to move freely through the crowds and was accepted everywhere as a native son. Many feel that his photographs captured the essence of those dark days and he was unanimously recommended for the Pulitzer Prize by the photography committee that year." A Life is More Than a Moment" carries us back to those painful and turbulent times, but it does not leave us there. For more than 30 years these photos served as the foundation for Will's photo journalism courses at Indiana University. Goaded by the claims of a student that Central High was not better off for his efforts in 1957 Will decided to return to Little Rock and see for himself what impact, if any, the photos had. He returned to Central High to take a new series of photos and managed to find many the most important people in his original photographs. Much has happened to them in 40 years and Will, the consummate storyteller, gives voice to their lives. This is a book that does show some of the most ugly hatred in life, but in the end, it is also a book of hope and reconciliation.