DATE: Thursday, September 25, 1997          TAG: 9709250295

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: 4A   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SCOTT SHEPARD, COX NEWS SERVICE 

DATELINE: LITTLE ROCK, ARK.                 LENGTH:   57 lines

FOCUS: INTEGRATION'S FAILED HOPES

President Clinton returns to his native Arkansas today to mark a milestone in U.S. civil rights history. The anniversary illuminates how far the nation has come in breaching its racial divide - and how far it still has to go. MEMO: For complete article see microfilm.

The New York Times and The Associated Press contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Photos

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Little Rock residents jeered Elizabeth Eckford on her way home from

Central High School on Sept. 4, 1957.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Elizabeth Eckford, left, talks with Hazel Massery, one of the

student protesters, on Monday. Massery, then Hazel Bryan,

apologized to Eckford 35 years ago.

COX NEWSPAPERS

Many students at Central High School attribute its academic

achievements to an intense motivation to overcome the past.

Graphic

INTEGRATION'S ROCKY ROAD

40 YEARS AGO: On Sept. 4, 1957, nine black students were blocked

from entering Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., by an angry

white mob and National Guard troops mobilized by segregationist Gov.

Orval Faubus. The crisis ended 21 days later after President

Eisenhower called in 1,200 Army soldiers to quell the mob and escort

the black students to class.

SINCE THEN: Desegregation was pushed forward nationwide by

hundreds of lawsuits, court orders, and the constant threat of

federal intervention. With the onset of busing in the 1970s, schools

became increasingly diverse.

THE BENEFITS: By all measures, desegregated public education has

been an enormous benefit to blacks and other minorities. A UCLA

study found that it helps blacks and Latinos gain access to college

and go on to successful careers, promotes racial tolerance and

fosters neighborhood integration.

THE DRAWBACKS: The two biggest were massive white flight and loss

of public faith in public education. Opinion polls found

three-to-one opposition by Americans to busing.

TODAY: The school choice movement and the waning of court-ordered

desegregation are causing schools to coalesce into mostly black,

mostly white and mostly Latino institutions, according to a recent

Harvard study that found the nation in the first phase of an

accelerating trend toward racial and economic segregation.

- The Boston Globe

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