LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — As we kick off Black History Month, we're hearing directly from icons of the civil rights movement.
In September 1957, a 14-year-old named Carlotta Walls LaNier played a crucial role in desegregating schools.
She and eight other courageous students integrated Central High School in Arkansas, known as the "Little Rock Nine."
The iconic images of federal troops escorting them past an angry mob on their way into the all-white school represented a new beginning.
The world was watching, but after cameras left and the doors closed, they experienced routine harassment, even violence.
Four weeks before graduation day, LaNier's home was rocked by an explosion.
"I got up that very next morning after my home was bombed and I went back to school because if I had not gone, they would have felt like they had won," LaNier said. "I graduated. I am the only female of the Little Rock Nine to participate in graduation exercise at Little Rock Central High School and I'm very proud of that diploma, because I finished what I started."
Her act of courage and defiance was a catalyst for change during the civil rights movement, and the Little Rock Nine were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999.
LaNier later graduated from the University of Northern Colorado and became a successful real estate broker.
To learn more about LaNier's story and to learn about other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, visit VoicesOfTheCivilRightsMovement.com