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Although Brown v. Board of Education made segregated schools unconstitutional, schools all over the country remained deeply segregated. Nine black students, who became known as the "Little Rock Nine" are blocked from entering the school on the orders of the governor of Arkansas. President Eisenhower sends federal troops and the National Guard to intervene on behalf of the students.

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- It was 60 years ago today that nine African-American children entered an all-white high school in Little Rock -- after the Supreme Court declared separate schools for blacks and whites unconstitutional.

On Monday, the eight survivors recalled that milestone in civil rights history -- and said the battle is not over.

Melba Beals was only 15 years old when she became one of nine teenagers in 1957 to integrate Little Rock Central High School.

"The memories of the Central High School experience are always with me. They just sort of don't go away," Beals said.

After an angry mob blocked them from entering the school, President Dwight Eisenhower ordered federal troops to protect them.

The students became known as the "Little Rock Nine." Minnijean Brown-Trickey said the hate she faced 60 years ago took away part of her innocence.

"One of the things I think that comes up is the fear, how we felt and how we were so shattered," Brown-Trickey said.

She said that back then, they weren't invited to the prom or other social events. But on Monday, the "Little Rock Nine" were welcomed back and remembered for their sacrifice and their strength, like when Elizabeth Eckford stayed composed despite numerous taunts aimed at her.

"None of us talked about what it was like inside the school for 30 years," Eckford said.

Gloria Ray Karlmark remembered the last day of school and the message one white classmate left in her yearbook: "She wrote 'in a different age, we could have been friends,'" she said.

"When you think about it, we are going forward very slowly because forces of opposition keep pushing back," said Terrance Roberts.

For the "Little Rock Nine," they don't celebrate themselves. They instead celebrate the possibility they they still represent today.

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Surviving members of "Little Rock Nine" recall milestone in civil rights history

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- It was 60 years ago today that nine African-American children entered an all-white high school in Little Rock -- after the Supreme Court declared separate schools for blacks and whites unconstitutional. On Monday, the eight survivors recalled that milestone in civil rights history -- and said the battle is not over.

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Creation of Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee - 1960

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Creation of Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee - 1960

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The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was one of the most important organizations of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It emerged from a student meeting organized by Ella Baker held at Shaw University in April 1960.

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SNCC focused on voter registration and on mounting a systemic challenge to the white supremacy that governed the country's entrenched political, economic and social structures.

Young activists and organizers with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC (pronounced "SNICK"), represented a radical, new unanticipated force whose work continues to have great relevance today. For the first time, young people decisively entered the ranks of civil rights movement leadership. They committed themselves to full-time organizing from the bottom-up, and with this approach empowered older efforts at change and facilitated the emergence of powerful new grassroots voices...

Continue reading The Story of SNCC "

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SNCC focused on voter registration and on mounting a systemic challenge to the white supremacy that governed the country's entrenched political, economic and social structures. Young activists and organizers with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC (pronounced "SNICK"), represented a radical, new unanticipated force whose work continues to have great relevance today.

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The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of nonviolent protests in 1960 which led to the Woolworth's department store chain reversing its policy of racial segregation in the southern United States. While not the first sit-ins of the African-American Civil Rights Movement, the Greensboro sit-ins were an instrumental action, leading to increased national sentiment at a crucial period in US history. The primary event took place at the Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth's store, now the International Civil Rights Center and Museum.

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Reflections on the Greensboro Lunch Counter

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Civil rights activists known as "Freedom Riders" rode interstate buses into the segregated South in order to protest a variety of civil rights violations. Along the way, Freedom Riders were met with great hostility, and many were arrested for violating local Jim Crow laws. The first Freedom Ride left Washington, D.C., on May 4, 1961.

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About 200,000 people join the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Congregating at the Lincoln Memorial, participants listen as Martin Luther King delivers his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

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Commonly referred to as the March on Washington, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom brought over 200,000 people to the nation's capitol to protest racial discrimination and show support for civil rights legislation that was pending in Congress. The March on Washington took place on August 28, 1963.

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march-on-washington-for-jobs-and-freedom - March on Washington Pictures - March on Washington - HISTORY.com

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Commonly referred to as the March on Washington, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom brought over 200,000 people to the nation's capitol to protest racial discrimination and show support for civil rights legislation that was pending in Congress. The March on Washington took place on August 28, 1963.

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24th Amendment abolishes poll tax - 1964

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24th Amendment abolishes poll tax - 1964

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The 24th Amendment abolishes the poll tax, which was a strategy to keep African Americans from voting in elections. The Supreme Court made this practice unconstitutional in five remaining Southern states that still used it.

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Fifty years ago today, the 24th Amendment, prohibiting the use of poll taxes as voting qualifications in federal elections, became part of the U.S. Constitution. Poll taxes were among the devices used by Southern states to restrict African Americans (as well as poor whites, Native Americans and other marginalized populations) from voting. The taxes had been ubiquitous across the old Confederacy earlier in the 20th century, but by 1964 only five states - Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia - retained them.

The nominal amount of the taxes wasn't very much, then or now. Alabama, Texas and Virginia set theirs at $1.50 per year, or $11.27 in today's dollars; Arkansas had the lowest tax, $1 (or $7.51 today), while Mississippi's was highest at $2 ($15.03 today). But the taxes were more onerous than they might appear. In Virginia, Alabama and Mississippi the taxes were cumulative, meaning a person seeking to vote had to pay the taxes for two or three years before they were eligible to register. Often only property owners were billed for the taxes, and the due dates were several months before the election. Virginia, Mississippi and Texas allowed cities and counties to impose local poll taxes on top of the state charge. And in some jurisdictions taxes had to be paid in person at the sheriff's office, an intimidating prospect for many.

Also, as voting historian J. Morgan Kousser noted, the taxes had to be paid in cash, at a time when many black southerners had extremely low cash incomes: "[B]ecause sharecroppers, small farmers, factory workers, miners, and others bought most of their necessities on credit, they might not see more than a few dollars in cash during a year. To such men, who composed majorities or near-majorities of the adult male populations of every southern state at the turn of the century, a levy of a dollar or two might seem enormous and a cumulated poll tax, impossibly high."

The 24th Amendment didn't, however, mark the end of poll taxes in the United States. While it ended taxes as factors in federal elections, poll taxes remained in place for state and local elections. Arkansas effectively repealed its state poll tax in November 1964; it wasn't till 1966 that the taxes in the four remaining states were struck down in a series of federal court decisions.

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Anti-poll tax amendment is 50 years old today

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Fifty years ago today, the 24th Amendment, prohibiting the use of poll taxes as voting qualifications in federal elections, became part of the U.S. Constitution. Poll taxes were among the devices used by Southern states to restrict African Americans (as well as poor whites, Native Americans and other marginalized populations) from voting.

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President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act - 1964

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President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act - 1964

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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed major forms of discrimination against racial, ethnic, national and religious minorities and women. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public. It was the most sweeping legislation of its kind in the history of the country and provided the federal government with the power to enforce desegregation.

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The 11 titles of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

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Fifty years after President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, an edited and enhanced compilation of a Universal Newsreel and archival photos from the time period summarize basics of the 11 titles that comprised the landmark piece of legislation.

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Text All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, and privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.

Civil Rights Act by the United States Congress, 1964
Courtesy of ourdocuments.gov

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Congress passes the Voting Rights Act - 1965

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Congress passes the Voting Rights Act - 1965

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Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to register to vote. Literacy tests, poll taxes, and other such requirements that were used to restrict black voting are made illegal.

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The Voting Rights Act at 50: How It Changed the World

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The landmark civil rights legislation was signed on Aug. 6, 1965-but that's just the beginning of the story