Gov. Faubus shut down Little Rock’s schools to keep black kids out—until this grandmother fought back

Adolphine Fletcher Terry and the Women’s Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools

When Governor Faubus shut down Little Rock’s high schools in 1958 to block desegregation, 76-year-old Adolphine Fletcher Terry had enough. “The men have failed,” she told a newspaper editor.

“It’s time to call out the women. ” She soon hosted 58 women at her home, forming the Women’s Emergency Committee.

Their fight wasn’t easy. Voters kept schools closed for a full year, leaving 3,600 kids with no classes.

But when school board members fired 44 teachers in 1959, Terry’s group struck back. They helped win a recall vote by slim margins, got most teachers rehired, and saw schools reopen that August.

The Pike-Fletcher-Terry House in Little Rock’s MacArthur Park Historic District still stands as a monument to this bold stand.

Governor Faubus Shuts Down Little Rock Schools

Governor Orval Faubus closed all four Little Rock high schools in summer 1958. He took this step to stop more desegregation after the tense 1957 Central High crisis.

Many business leaders stayed quiet because segregationists threatened them with boycotts. This silence left a leadership gap that women would soon fill.

The closure meant 3,600 students faced losing a whole year of school.

76-Year-Old Woman Calls Men Failures

Adolphine Fletcher Terry held the first Women’s Emergency Committee meeting on September 16, 1958, at her home with 58 women attending.

She told newspaper editor Harry Ashmore, “The men have failed. It’s time to call out the women. ” Terry came from a well-known Little Rock family and went to Vassar College.

She worked with Vivion Brewer and Velma Powell to lead the group that stood up against Governor Faubus.

Little Rock Voters Pick Closed Schools Over Integration

The WEC faced its first big test on September 27, 1958, when Little Rock voters rejected integration by almost three to one. This vote kept all four public high schools closed for the entire 1958-59 school year.

About 3,600 students lost their education, with many getting no teaching at all.

Some families sent their children to live with relatives in other towns so they could go to school.

Brave Women Face Threats For Speaking Out

People called WEC members “integrationists” during what became known as the Lost Year. The hostile mood made it nearly impossible for white and black leaders to meet openly.

Terry even kept civil rights leader Daisy Bates out of meetings to prevent member backlash, telling her plainly “don’t you come. ” The organization stayed all-white to keep broader community support.

Despite harassment, these women kept working to reopen schools.

Parents Start Changing Their Minds

As the Lost Year went on, attitudes among Little Rock parents began to shift. More families became willing to accept some desegregation if it meant reopening schools.

Parents with teenagers felt the impact most directly as their kids missed key education. The WEC kept pushing for school reopening despite their September election loss.

The money problems from closed schools started to worry business owners.

Teachers Become The Next Battleground

The WEC asked the Little Rock School Board to renew all teacher and administrator contracts right away. They knew that reopening schools needed keeping good teachers and staff in place.

This move set up a fight with segregationist school board members.

The organization got ready for the May 5, 1959, school board meeting where these contracts would be decided.

Segregationists Fire Dozens Of Teachers In One Night

At the May 5, 1959, school board meeting, segregationist members voted to fire 44 teachers and administrators they thought supported integration. Moderate board members walked out to try stopping the vote.

Board president Ed McKinley claimed parents wouldn’t want their children “trained by persons holding such attitudes. ” The firings included Central High’s top leaders.

This extreme action finally woke up the silent business community.

Husbands Join The Fight Through STOP

About 180 Little Rock residents gathered to organize against segregationist board members. They formed Stop This Outrageous Purge (STOP), with many members being the husbands of WEC women.

Irene Samuel from the WEC worked as STOP’s main organizer. The group collected 9,603 signatures for recall petitions within days.

A rival group called CROSS formed to recall moderate board members and gathered 7,754 signatures.

The Campaign Gets Ugly

A twenty-day campaign started with both sides organizing huge voter drives. The WEC provided workers for STOP’s plans, going door-to-door to reach voters.

Governor Faubus backed CROSS and gave TV speeches supporting the segregationist side. The campaign forced Little Rock residents to choose between supporting teachers or backing the segregationists.

It became the most intense political fight since the original integration crisis.

Voters Choose Teachers Over Segregation By Razor-Thin Margins

The May 25, 1959, recall election resulted in a narrow victory for STOP and the WEC. Three moderate board members kept their seats by margins of just 50.8 to 52. 4 percent.

Three segregationist members lost their positions by similarly tight margins of 52. 94 to 55.47 percent. This marked Governor Faubus’s first major political defeat since the Central High crisis began.

A new school board got appointed on June 11, 1959, shifting control toward more moderate voices.

Kids Finally Return To Class After A Lost Year

The new school board rehired 39 of the 44 fired educators before the fall semester began. Little Rock high schools reopened on August 12, 1959, with limited desegregation in place.

Federal courts had ruled school closures unconstitutional in June 1959. The Lost Year officially ended after affecting thousands of students and families.

This victory showed that organized white moderates could successfully challenge segregationist power when they worked together and refused to back down.

Visiting MacArthur Park Historic District, Arkansas

You can explore the MacArthur Park Historic District at 501 East Ninth Street to learn about Adolphine Fletcher Terry’s fight against school segregation.

The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts offers free admission Tuesday-Saturday 10am-8pm with drop-in tours on Saturdays. The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History in the Tower Building is also free.

The Pike-Fletcher-Terry House is currently closed due to litigation. The 36-acre park has walking trails and gardens open daily.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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