Ernest Green
FameRank: 5

"Ernest Gideon Green" was one of the Little Rock Nine, a group of African-American students who, in 1957, were the first black students ever to attend classes at Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas/Little Rock, Arkansas. Green was the first African-American to graduate from the school in 1958. In 1999, he and the other members of the Little Rock Nine were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President of the United States/President Bill Clinton.

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We realized in 1957 that this was not an easy journey. It was one in which we thought we were simply exercising our right to the best education that was available in Little Rock, Arkansas.

We were really ordinary people and we really owe a debt of gratitude to (their adviser) Daisy Bates and to our parents.

They used to call Arkansas 'the land of opportunity,' and black people said, 'Opportunity for whom?' ... Today, we can say 'opportunity for all,' and Arkansas can be proud of this moment.