7-27-17

Going to bed early resulted in me waking up at 4:30 but I was able to go back to sleep and wake again before my 6:30 alarm. I'm feeling much better today despite a croaky voice and after showering and eating, we were on our way into Little Rock to see the Capitol building. We explored but the galleries are only open to tours and we preferred not to wait until 9:00 for the tour and explored on our own. A lot of white and cream colors and marble but not as pretty as Utah or Kansas. 

We drove a mile over to the Central High school national park site and were able to join a tour that goes into the high school. The school was the all white school in Little Rock and as built to attract businesses to Little Rock as the new Capitol of the south instead of Atlanta. All of that changed with the desegregation of Little Rock schools and the integration of Central High in particular because businesses didn't want to come to a town where the racial violence was so bad the National Guard was there. The high school is still a working school and has 2500+ students. It is a beautifully built school and the auditorium is nicer than anything Cabarrus County has. The park ranger gave an incredibly thorough tour and her father had been one of the guardsmen that helped get the Little Rock nine into the school everyday. One does wonder how those normal everyday white citizens could have been spitting in the face of these kids who just wanted a better school opportunity. We are fighting the same states rights vs federal rights battles today  concerning education and I guess I just don't see why every child in America doesn't deserve to be educated the same way regardless of their socioeconomic situation. 

We finished our tour and then headed towards Hot Springs. It's so humid in Arkansas, I couldn't fathom wanting to get into a hot spring.