A woman who made civil rights history as one of nine African-American students to attend an all-white Little Rock, Ark., high school in 1957 against the wishes of anti-integration demonstrators will deliver a graduation address at the University of Colorado at Boulder May 10.
Carlotta Walls LaNier was one of the "Little Rock Nine," and only one of three group members who participated in graduation ceremonies at Little Rock's Central High School. She will address this year's graduating class of the 33rd commencement of CU-Boulder's Women and Gender Studies Program at 10 a.m. Thursday, May 10, at Macky Auditorium on the Boulder campus.
"Because of the sacrifices made by courageous young people like Carlotta Walls LaNier who were willing to put their lives on the line, civil rights exist today for all citizens regardless of their race, religion, nationality, gender, class or sexual orientation," said Polly McLean, associate professor in the CU-Boulder School of Journalism and Mass Communication and director of the Women and Gender Studies Program.
"Her action and those of eight other black students showed the world that young people could change the course of history," McLean said.
As part of this year's women and gender studies commencement exercises, students, faculty and staff also will honor Lucile Berkeley Buchanan, the daughter of slaves and the first African-American woman to graduate from CU-Boulder in 1918. Buchanan's niece, Evelyn Napper, 92, said her aunt was denied the opportunity to walk across the Macky stage on June 5, 1918, and instead received her diploma from a white classmate as she sat waiting to be called to the stage, according to extensive research by McLean.
As the nation's modern civil rights movement gained momentum after the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 landmark desegregation decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Gov. Orval Faubus, D-Ark., joined local white demonstrators in resisting racial integration at Central High School.
Faubus gained international notoriety when he dispatched the Arkansas National Guard to block LaNier and eight other black students from entering the school. President Dwight Eisenhower responded by sending 1,000 members of the 101st Airborne Division to protect the students.
Despite legal, social and cultural roadblocks, LaNier went on to graduate from Colorado State University and today resides in Englewood, Colo., where she has been involved in real estate for more than 20 years. She is a member of many national and community organizations, including the Colorado AIDS Project, Jack and Jill of America, the Urban League and the NAACP.
LaNier serves on the boards of trustees of the University of Northern Colorado and the Iliff School of Theology. In addition, she helped establish the Little Rock Nine Foundation, a nonprofit organization engaged in ensuring educational opportunities for African-American students.
She has received numerous awards, including the NAACP's coveted Springarn Medal and the National Dunbar Association's Legacy Award.
LaNier is the only Colorado resident to have received the Congressional Gold Medal from President William J. Clinton.
For more information about the Little Rock Nine, visit . To learn more about CU-Boulder's women and gender studies program, go to .