Lopi LaRoe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Rock Revisited
Oil on Board
2” X 3 ½ “
2006
Private Collection

Pictured in the painting is 15 year old Elizabeth Eckford as she attempts to enter Little Rock Central High School, which had previously only accepted white students. She is one of the African American students known as the Little Rock Nine. On September 4, 1957, they were stopped at the door by Arkansas National Guard troops called up by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus. They tried again without success to attend Central High on September 23, 1957. The next day, September 24, President Dwight D. Eisenhower reluctantly sent U.S. Army troops to accompany the Little Rock Nine to school.

In the painting, Elizabeth ignores the hateful taunts of whites who opposed her attending their school. The most prominent face in the painting besides Elizabeth’s is that of Hazel Massery who later in life had a change of heart and joined with Eckford to work towards racial harmony. The photo this painting was based on was taken by Will Counts.