LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — One of the nine Black students who famously integrated Central High School in Little Rock in 1957 says the images of a White supremacist rally in Virginia last month immediately reminded her of the mobs she faced 60 years ago.
Surviving members of the Little Rock Nine, the students who integrated Central High School in 1957, speak with the media Friday, Sept. 22, 2017, at the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock, Ark. From the left are Thelma Mothershed Wair, Minnijean Brown Trickey, Terrence J. Roberts, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Ernest G. Green and Elizabeth Eckford. Melba Pattillo Beals attended and is off the camera to the right. Jefferson Thomas died in 2010. (AP Photo/Kelly P. Kissel)
Minnijean Brown Trickey said Friday she couldn’t believe what she saw when White nationalists held a rally in August to oppose the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
She says the images echoed the scene from when she and the rest of the Little Rock Nine were escorted into the all-White high school.
Trickey and the seven surviving members of the group gathered for a joint news conference kicking off event commemorating the desegregation anniversary.
Former President Bill Clinton is headlining an event marking the anniversary at the school next week.