CAPITOL EXHIBIT RECALLS HORACE MANN’S ROLE IN THE LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL CRISIS
Monday, Jul 9, 2007
Contact: Natasha Naragon
(501) 683-1441
(LITTLE ROCK, ARK.) - In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the integration of Central High School, Secretary of State Charlie Daniels presents a summer exhibit at the Arkansas State Capitol entitled “The Legacy of Horace Mann: Before 1957 and Beyond.”
The Horace Mann High School for Negroes was established in April 1956 in an effort to ease pressure on the Little Rock School District to quickly desegregate its schools. Several hundred students from Little Rock’s long-established high school for African-Americans were transferred to the then brand new facility. In September 1958, Horace Mann, like the other Little Rock high schools, was closed by gubernatorial order.
The exhibit’s artifacts, testimony, and rare images—some not seen since the 1950’s—tell the story of the school whose students included the Little Rock Nine. The assorted items were generously donated for this exhibit by the Horace Mann Alumni Association, UALR Archives & Special Collections, and Dr. Sondra Gordy of UCA.
Horace Mann High School closed at the end of the 1971 school year with almost 3,000 graduates from 15 classes before reopening that fall as a junior high school. The school carries on today as Mann Arts and Science Magnet Middle School.
The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, will be on display in the first-floor galleries of the State Capitol through August from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays and from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on weekends and holidays.
