Little Rock Girl 1957: How a Photograph Changed the Fight for Integration

Nine African American students made history when they defied a governor and integrated an Arkansas high school in 1957. It was the photo of one of the nine trying to enter the school -- a young girl being taunted, harassed and threatened by an angry mob -- that grabbed the worlds attention and kept its disapproving gaze on Little Rock, Arkansas.

In defiance of a federal court order, Governor Orval Faubus called in the National Guard to prevent the students from entering all-white Central High School. The plan had been for the students to meet and go to school as a group on September 4, 1957. But one student, Elizabeth, didn't hear of the plan and tried to enter the school alone. A chilling photo by newspaper photographer Will Counts captured the sneering expression of a girl in the mob and made history. Years later Counts snapped another photo, this one of the same two girls, now grownup, reconciling in front of Central High School.

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