Ernest Green

Ernest G. Green (born September 22, 1941) was one of the Little Rock Nine, a group of African-American students who, in 1957, were the first black students ever to attend classes at Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Green was the first black to graduate from the school. In 1999, he and the other members of the Little Rock Nine were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President Bill Clinton.

Ernest became the only senior among the nine African Americans who decided to integrate Central High that fall. Not only did Ernest survive the daily harassment and intermittent violence the rest of the Little Rock Nine experienced, he had to study extraordinarily hard to make sure he graduated and could demonstrate that African Americans were equally capable of attending Central High as anyone else.

Martin Luther King Jr., who was in Arkansas to speak at Arkansas Agriculture Mechanical and Normal College's commencement in Pine Bluff, attended Ernest's graduation with the Green family.

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