The Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools (WEC) was an organization formed by a group of socially prominent white women in the city of Little Rock, Arkansas during the Little Rock Crisis in 1958. The organization advocated for the integration of the Little Rock public school system and was a major obstacle to Governor Orval Faubus's efforts to prevent racial integration. The women spoke out in favor of a special election to remove segregationists from the Little Rock school board.

Background

After the U.S. Supreme Court issued its Brown v. Board of Education ruling on May 17, 1954, segregated schools were ruled to be unconstitutional. The NAACP soon signed up nine high-achieving black students, the Little Rock Nine, for attendance at Little Rock Central High School, a previously all-white school. After the school became the site of demonstrations and protests on September 4, 1957, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus deployed the Arkansas National Guard to the school to prevent the students from entering, contradicting the Supreme Court and the wishes of the school district. The crisis escalated with Faubus ordering all public schools in the city closed, rather than allowing the integration of the nine students. and highly influential in her community. membership of the organization feared the position would harm its public support. The group positioned itself as a political group dedicated to re-opening schools, and maintained a primarily white membership.

The WEC was the first white organization to speak out against segregation in Little Rock,

Campaigns

School board elections

After the resignation of five school board members, the WEC started a signature campaign to recruit moderate and liberal business leaders to run for the positions. To protect its members, the WEC never compiled a formal list, and kept one copy of its mailing list hidden in a different home each night. When only financial documents were submitted to the city's Board of Directors, the WEC officers were threatened with arrest, but none of its members were ever arrested.

References

Further reading

  • Breaking the Silence: The Little Rock Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools, 1958–1964, by Sara Murphy and Patrick Murphy Jr. 1997, ()
  • Adapted from the article Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools , from Wikinfo, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
  • Documentary Film: The Giants Wore White Gloves; Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools, by Sandra Hubbard, Morning Star Studio 1923 N. Woodland, Fayetteville, Ar 72703 The Giants Wore White Gloves found at www.sandrahubbard.com
  • Oral History Interview of Vivion Lenon Brewer from Oral Histories of the American South