A green and blue cross on a white field, and at the crossing a golden disc: inside it, an outcrop of brown rock at the water's edge. It is the little rock itself, the one that gave the city its name and served as a landmark for travellers on the Arkansas River. But the flag says nothing of September 1957.
The name comes from a rocky outcrop on the south bank of the Arkansas River, a landmark for early French explorers. But Little Rock is best known for one moment: the Little Rock Nine.
September 1957. Nine Black students attempt to enter Central High School, a white school. The Brown v. Board of Education ruling had declared school segregation unconstitutional. Governor Orval Faubus deploys the National Guard to block their entry.
President Eisenhower sends the 101st Airborne Division. Paratroopers with bayonets protect children going to school.
Faubus would close all public schools for a year rather than desegregate them.
Today, Central High is a national historic site. The Little Rock Nine are heroes. The white flag with its bridge hides the turbulent history, but the school still stands, a witness to extraordinary courage.