Gloria Ray: The Little Rock Nine and the Fight for Civil Rights

Summary

Published in 2027 to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Little Rock crisis.

This powerful collaboration between Gloria Ray Karlmark and Elisabeth Åsbrink tells Gloria’s story as one of the Little Rock Nine for the first time.

In 1957, armed white soldiers prevented fourteen-year-old Gloria Ray Karlmark from entering Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. The governor refused to allow her and eight other black teenagers into the all-white school. ‘That day my childhood ended,’ Gloria says today.

The Little Rock Nine, as they came to be known, were the first to act on the 1954 Supreme Court decision ruling school segregation as unconstitutional. Arkansas’ violent resistance forced President Eisenhower to deploy federal troops to escort the nine black children to school each day.

The incident became world news and a Cold War flashpoint, exposing American racism to the world, and the Little Rock Nine are now civil rights icons. But the price they paid was devastating. They endured harassment, death threats, and violence. Their families and supporters suffered. The governor ultimately closed all public schools rather than allow integration, affecting thousands of students.

Gloria Ray tells the story of that transformative year, and the deep roots of American racism and slavery from which it grew. Åsbrink’s eloquent narration and distinctive voice illuminate key moments of conflict and inequality by masterfully weaving together personal and national history.