A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School

As senior year begins, LaNier misses the fun, social aspects of school she experienced at Dunbar. Black students are still barred from extracurriculars at Central and must go elsewhere for social events, like nearby college football games or other community events. 

On September 7, Fire Chief Gann Nalley’s station wagon is blown up. Two following explosions take out Mayor Werner C. Knoop’s construction firm and the ground floor offices of the school board.

Though five segregationists are charged for the explosions, LaNier pays little attention to the bombings and trial, more concerned with where she will apply to college.

On the night of February 9, 1960, LaNier is roused by a large explosion. Through the smoke, she finds Mother and her sisters. Mother tells her to call Daddy, who is working late at Big Daddy’s. LaNier glimpses their destroyed living room and knows segregationists bombed their home.

Two days later, Amis Guthridge, chief attorney for the white Citizens Council, suggests Black citizens committed the bombing. Ten days after the bombing, the newspaper announces that two Black men—Herbert Odell Monts and Maceo Antonio Binns—were charged by the police. LaNier’s father is called in for questioning. Big Daddy finds out that Daddy is being questioned by the FBI.