Carlotta Walls LaNier was 14 years old when she and eight other African American students walked through the doors of the formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The year was 1957 and the move was a test of the landmark Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education. Walls LaNier graduated from Central High after surviving verbal and physical attacks and a bombing of her home.
She will be in Rochester next week as a guest of the YWCA for its Empowering Women Luncheon, but first, she joins us on Connections to discuss school desegregation and her place in history. Our guests:
- Carlotta Walls LaNier, author, speaker, and member of the Little Rock Nine
- Angela Panzarella, interim CEO of the YWCA Rochester and Monroe County
- Van White, president of the Rochester City School Board