Newswise — Fifty years after nine black teenagers entered Little Rock Central High School sparking the first test of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brown versus Board of Education, blacks and whites in Little Rock and surrounding Pulaski County believe it is very important for children to socialize with children of different races, according to a data collected by UALR in its fourth annual Racial Attitudes Survey.
The survey, part of an ongoing project by the University to measure annually the attitudes of white and black citizens in the county about race relations, shows more blacks than whites believe that school integration benefits both races " nearly two-thirds of blacks and 50 percent of whites questioned " "strongly agree" that school integration benefits both groups. The survey also showed that blacks are more likely to believe that their children have as good a chance as white children to get a good education than they were three years ago. In addition to this year's annual measure of attitudes among blacks and whites conducted by UALR's Institute of Government, the University conducted a companion study of economic differences between blacks and whites in Little Rock and surrounding Pulaski County. It showed blacks are closing the gap in high school graduation, but that gap between the number of white and black college graduates is widening.
In September 1957, nine black students endured the spit and screams of a mob to walk up the front steps of Central High and into civil rights history. For 17 days, then-Gov. Orval Faubus ordered the National Guard to take up arms at the school and keep the black students out. Faced with contempt of court, he withdrew the troops, but left the ill-prepared city police standing between the nine black children and the white mob. The next day " Sept. 24, 1957 " President Dwight Eisenhower ordered tanks and personnel carriers of the 101st Airborne Division through downtown Little Rock in an eerie show of federal force. The next morning, armed troops escorted the nine black students into the school.
"Fifty years after this community was torn asunder by the integration crisis at Central High School, our community is working to close the achievement gaps between blacks and whites, but there is still much to be done," Chancellor Joel E. Anderson said. "Blacks are closing the gap in high school graduations, but the future health of our region's economy depends on increasing the number of our youth who earn college degrees."
In his 2003 investiture, Anderson made an annual review of central Arkansas' attitudes on race relations a major new University initiative.
Some of the Racial Attitudes Survey's findings this year were:"¢ The majority of both blacks and whites believe that the historic events at Central High School are still impacting race relations in Pulaski County and believe the impact is a positive one. "¢ Nine of 10 blacks, compared with six to seven out of 10 whites, think it is "very important" for children to socialize with children of different races."¢ Blacks were three times or more likely than whites to say they were treated unfairly because of their race during their K-12 education."¢ The majority of blacks and whites believe "only a few" people in each race dislike members of the other race."¢ Fewer respondents believe that blacks and whites dislike each other as compared to the survey two years ago.
The companion study conducted by UALR's Institute for Economic Advancement compared economic statistics for Little Rock and the U.S. from 1980 to 2000. Some of the findings:"¢ The percentage of blacks in managerial and professional jobs in Little Rock grew from 13.7 percent in 1980 to 26.8 percent in 2000 " 1.6 percent higher than the national average."¢ The percentage of Little Rock families headed by couples in 1980 stood at 84.6 for whites and 53.1 for blacks. By 2000, those percentages were 82.2 for whites and 44.8 for blacks. Nationally, the figures in 2000 stood at 81.8 for whites and 47 for blacks."¢ The percent of single white female households dropped from 13.2 percent in 1980 to 12.6 percent in 2000. Single black female households grew from 41 percent in 1980 to 42.6 " a growth rate lower than the national average.
The 2007 Racial Attitudes Survey was based on a land-line telephone survey conducted by the UALR Institute of Government Survey Research Center between Sept. 29 and Nov. 27, 2006. Since the study primarily focuses on black/white relations, the data analysis is divided into four geo-racial groups with a total of 1,666 white and black respondents.
See the full survey and previous UALR Racial Attitudes reports at http://www.ualr.edu/iog/racialattitudes.htm.
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