Little Rock Nine Congressional Gold Medal

In 1954, the Supreme Court declared that segregation — keeping Black people separated from White people in public places — was unconstitutional. In September of 1957, nine Black students began their school year by entering an all-White high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Though other students treated them badly, they stood up for their right to go to Central High and helped open the door to racial justice.

This medal honors Minnijean Brown Trickey, Carlotta Walls Lanier, Melba Pattillo Beals, Terrence Roberts, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Thelma Mothershed Wair, Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, and Jefferson Thomas, their “selfless heroism and the pain they suffered in the cause of civil rights by integrating Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.”

The bronze medal pictured is a duplicate of the Congressional Gold Medal.