Ernest Gideon Green was one of the
Little Rock NineThe Little Rock Nine was a group of African-American students who were enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The ensuing Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, and then...
, 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 RockLittle Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
,
ArkansasArkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
. Green was the first black to graduate from the school in 1958. In 1999, he and the other people of the Little Rock Nine were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by
PresidentThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Bill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
.
Early life and education
Ernest Green was born in Little Rock to Lothaire and Ernest Green, Sr. Following his brush with national fame, Green attended
Michigan State UniversityMichigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
as the beneficiary of a scholarship provided by an anonymous donor. While at Michigan State, Green became a charter member of
Omega Psi PhiOmega Psi Phi is a fraternity and is the first African-American national fraternal organization to be founded at a historically black college. Omega Psi Phi was founded on November 17, 1911, at Howard University in Washington, D.C.. The founders were three Howard University juniors, Edgar Amos...
fraternity's Sigma chapter and continued to engage in activism and protests supporting the Civil Rights movement. He later learned that the anonymous donor was
John A. HannahJohn Alfred Hannah was president of Michigan State College for 28 years, making him the longest serving of MSU's presidents. He is credited with transforming the school from a little-known, regional agricultural college into a large national research institution...
, the president of Michigan State, and ironically, an occasional target of protests by Civil Rights activists including Green. Green graduated with a
Bachelor of ArtsA Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1962 and a
Master's degreeA master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in sociology in 1964. Green also was the top of his class.
Excerpt from the 50 year anniversary program;
Like the rest of the Little Rock Nine, Green came from a family which placed a lot of emphasis on the importance of education and personal development. Consequently, Green participated in church activities and the
Boy Scouts of AmericaThe Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
, eventually earning the rank of
Eagle ScoutEagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America . A Scout who attains this rank is called an Eagle Scout or Eagle. Since its introduction in 1911, the Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than 2 million young men...
. He attended segregated Dunbar Junior High School and graduated after ninth grade, at which time he was assigned to Horace Mann High School, a new high school for African-Americans.
At the end of his junior year at Horace Mann, Green volunteered to attend the all-white Little Rock Central High School in fall of 1957 and help desegregate one of the nation's largest schools. Central High offered a wider and more complex curriculum than Horace Mann did, making educational opportunities available quite desirable.
Green became the only senior among the nine African Americans who decided to integrate Central High that fall. Not only did Green 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.
His career has included nonprofit work at the A. Phillip Randolph Education Fund (1968–1977), and experience in government as the Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Affairs under President
Jimmy CarterJames Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
(1977–1981).
Career
In 1965, he received an apprenticeship in building trades from the Adolph Institute, a program designed to help minority women in the South with career development issues. From 1968 to 1976, he served as Director of the A. Philip Randolph Education Fund. From 1977 to 1981, he served as an Assistant Secretary of Labor during
Jimmy CarterJames Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
's administration. From 1981 to 1985 he was a partner in the firm Green and Herman; from 1985 to 1986 he owned E. Green and Associates. Since 1985, he has been with
Lehman BrothersLehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA , doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former NYSE ticker...
, where he was a Managing Director in the fixed income department of the
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
firm, focusing on public finance. He is also a board member at the
Albert Shanker InstituteThe Albert Shanker Institute is a nonprofit foundation dedicated to advancing democratic ideals, improving the quality of public education, and conducting research into the labor movement and the sociology of work...
.
Green earned his
Eagle Scout AwardEagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America . A Scout who attains this rank is called an Eagle Scout or Eagle. Since its introduction in 1911, the Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than 2 million young men...
in 1956 prior to attending Central High. Over 25 years later he received the
Distinguished Eagle Scout AwardThe Distinguished Eagle Scout Award is a distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America . It is awarded to an Eagle Scout for distinguished service in his profession and to his community for a period of at least 25 years after attaining the level of Eagle Scout...
which BSA has awarded to fewer than 2000 men who earned Eagle as a Scout. In 2004, he organized the
ScoutreachThe Scoutreach Division of the Boy Scouts of America emphasizes service to rural and urban areas and to minority populations. The African American Focus works with African American populations in partnerships with the NAACP, various the African American churches and other groups...
program in Washington, DC and served as the program's volunteer Chair. This program is in its 4th year serving 600 boys in distressed neighborhoods in England.
Television portrayals
Green has been depicted in two made-for-television movies about the Little Rock Nine. He was portrayed by
Calvin LevelsCalvin Levels is an American film actor. In 1984, he won a Theatre World Award and was nominated for both the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play for his portrayal of Calvin Jefferson in Open Admissions...
in the 1981
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
movie
Crisis at Central HighCrisis at Central High was a 1981 made-for-television movie about the Little Rock Integration Crisis of 1957, based on a draft of the memoir by the same name by former assistant principal Elizabeth Huckaby....
, and by
Morris ChestnutMorris L. Chestnut is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles as teenage father Ricky Baker in the 1991 film Boyz n the Hood, groom-to-be Lance Sullivan in the 1999 film The Best Man, as Tracy Reynolds, NBA star in the 2002 film Like Mike, and as the Visitor Ryan in the...
in the 1993
Disney ChannelDisney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
movie
The Ernest Green StoryThe Ernest Green Story is a made-for-television movie which follows the true story of Ernest Green and eight other African American high school students as they embark on their historic journey to integrate Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957.Much of the movie was...
.
In 1980, he was part of the
Milton FriedmanMilton Friedman was an American economist, statistician, academic, and author who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades...
(PBS) Free to Choose panel discussion (volume 8 of 10) related to workers rights and the economy.
External links