Breaking the Silence: The Little Rock Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools, 1958–1963

by Sara Alderman Murphy

A leader of the Women's Emergency Committee to Open our Schools recounts the Little Rock integration crisis and Gov. Orval Fabus's closing of the local schools.

Genres: Nonfiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1997

Reviews

[Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tells how a small group of determined women changed the poisonous atmosphere during the Little Rock desegregation crisis of the 1950s. Found this book at the wonderful Central High School National Historic Site. AAUW also played a significant role in getting the schools reopened.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

In September 1958, days after Governor Orval Faubus closed all the Little Rock high schools, a group of 58 women met in the home of Adolphine Fletcher Terry, a prominent 76-year-old political activist and catalyst for social change. Their numbers rose quickly, peaking at 2000 women strong. With just one goal, they assumed the name Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools. And they did it: the high schools reopened in the fall of 1959 after almost a year of high drama, hair-raising school board elections and recalls won by razor-thin margins, the votes having been delivered by the passion and organizational skills of these committed women. Many of these women were harrassed, threatened, and vilified; sometimes their husbands lost their jobs because of their wives' subversive activities directed at the governor, his political machine, and the power structure of Little Rock.

Except for the officers and Executive Committee, the WEC membership list remained a secret for 35 years. I've always wanted to know more about this group because without them, I wouldn't have had a high school to go to in 1959. I knew what they accomplished, and I knew who some of them were. However, until Sara Alderman Murphy, one of the leaders, wrote this book in 1995, not much was known about the inner workings of the W.E.C. and how they operated. In a very short period of time, they mobilized a formidable, highly influential, and efficient force of middle-class housewives to accomplish a nearly impossible task. Sara Murphy, who had been a journalist before becoming an activist, told their story well.

[Isis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read for anyone interested in the Central High Crisis and the formation of the Women’s Emergency Committee who worked to get the schools back open.