Civil rights expert commemorates 50th anniversary of Little Rock
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Professor John Kirk of the History Department at Royal Holloway, University of London, is participating in a number of events in Little Rock, Arkansas to mark 50 years since the first African-American students were enrolled to Little Rock Central High School.

Professor Kirk has several speaking engagements lined up during the month-long celebration, where he will outline Arkansas′ role in the US Civil Rights Movement and the legacy of Little Rock Crisis. This includes a plenary lecture at an international conference taking place in Little Rock from 6-8 September. Professor Kirk will also be participating in a book signing at the new Central High Museum and Visitors Center after it opens on 24 September.

The Crisis arose when nine African-American students sought to enrol at Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The Arkansas National Guard, under the orders of Governor Orval E. Faubus, prevented the students from entering the school. President Eisenhower eventually sent in federal troops to ensure the children’s admittance. The crisis has been regarded as a ‘turning-point’ in the African-American Civil Rights Movement.

Professor Kirk’s new book ‘Beyond Little Rock: The Origins and Legacies of the Central High Crisis’ was recently published to great acclaim. Concentrating on black activism and race relations in Arkansas, it examines key episodes in state history from before the New Deal in 1933 to the present, covering a wide range of topics that include the historiography of the school crisis and the civil rights movement.

′No-one is better equipped than John Kirk to put the Little Rock crisis in the context of the long civil rights movement in Arkansas′ says Tony Badger, Paul Mellon Professor of American History at Cambridge University. Professor Kirk’s previous research on the civil rights movement has received attention and recognition both nationally and internationally.

Professor Kirk explains, ′My work is really to try to locate the Little Rock High School crisis within a much broader civil rights struggle that a lot of people don’t know about. They really only know about the events of September, not about how those fit into what happened in the city, the state and the region over a much longer time.′

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