Visit Little Rock Central High School Visitor Center, Little Rock, Arkansas

Add to My List Check Off

Explore the park visitor center's detailed exhibits and learn about the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School through interviews, news footage, audio/video recordings of those directly involved plus watch our new park interpretive film (available on request). The visitor center also features accessible restrooms and a Jefferson National Parks Association (JNPA) bookstore with items related to the stories of civil rights and various gifts and souvenirs to take home from your visit to this site. The exhibits begin by examining the laws and court cases that established cultural and legal precedents and determined opportunities for African Americans including the Civil Rights Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v Board of Education. Learn about the massive resistance in the South that provoked opposition in Little Rock to integration during the 1957 crisis, the significance of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's use of the 101st Airborne to enforce federal law, and how the courage and determination of the Little Rock Nine carried them through a turbulent school year once inside Central High School and beyond.Read about other stories and heroes of the civil rights movement, listen to recordings of Little Rock Nine remembering the crisis, ask park rangers for more information about this key moment, or work on a Junior Ranger book to earn your badge. Visitors should always park in the free Visitor Center parking lot. Central High School is an operating public high school with over 2,500 students, grades 9 through 12. Visitors may walk around the reflection pool and front steps of Central High on their own, but must be on a ranger-led tour to enter the active high school. Exhibits, film and bookstore are all located in the National Park Visitor Center. Traffic/parking can be congested on school days between 8:30 - 9:00 a.m. and 3:30 - 4:00 p.m. All ranger-led tours begin inside the visitor center unless otherwise listed. The visitor center is open from Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. CST/CDT to 4:00 p.m. CST/CDT; the visitor center is closed on New Year's Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day unless otherwise designated.

Write a Review

No Ratings Yet

Flag as inappropriate ›