COLORADO SPRINGS — Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and today one of the first women to integrate the U.S. school system will be sharing her experience here in Colorado Springs.
The year was 1957 when Carlotta LaNier was the youngest of the Little Rock nine students who historically integrated Little Rock Central High School. Today she is coming here to share her experience.
Carlotta will also be sharing the young reader version of her book, “A Mighty Long Way,” that talks about being accepted as she walked the halls of Little Rock Central High School.
She says history is meant to be shared with our youth which is why she is coming to speak to the public today at Library 21C. She wants the younger generations to know the importance of her story.
“The achievement would be for the young people to understand, as I stated earlier, what was necessary for them to go through for them to be sitting in a classroom today with people who don’t look like them,” said LaNier. “I grew up in elementary and junior high school with all black kids, okay, even though I played with all white kids during the summertime playing softball, but we didn’t go to school together and we didn’t go to each other’s homes. But this is about humanity and making sure we are all equal.”
Today’s event is open for the public to attend. Carlotta says she hopes the event will help young generations understand what changes and what progress has been made since she first stepped foot into Little Rock Central High School.
The event starts today at 10 a.m. and will wrap up at 11 a.m. it will be held at the venue on the upper level of Library 21C.
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