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Ooh You're In Trouble

Carlotta and The Little Rock Nine - Part 1

Ooh You're In Trouble

Mortified Media and TRAX from PRX

Stories For Kids, Kids & Family

4.6670 Ratings

🗓️ 24 December 2020

⏱️ 17 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Imagine showing up for your first day of high school only to be greeted by armed troops and angry mobs. In this special 2-part episode, we travel back to 1950’s Arkansas to hear the story of The Little Rock 9 — a group of courageous African American teenagers who challenged the status quo and made history in the process. Featuring Carlotta Walls LaNier.

Ooh, You’re In Trouble is a proud member of TRAX from PRX. Listen to the entire series.

*A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School *by Carlotta Walls LaNier.

Donate to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The following story is true.

0:02.2

However, unlike others we've shared, this one contains subject matter about a moment in history that may be difficult for certain age groups to hear.

0:12.0

Today on a very special episode of...

0:15.1

Ooh, you're in trouble.

0:17.7

It's episode one of a two-part journey as we travel back to the 1950s to hear the story of a kid who broke a rule of historic proportions.

0:26.4

Hi, I'm Carlotta. Carlotta walls at the time, and when I was young, I fought the school system and won.

0:33.9

Whoa, are kids allowed to do that? That's something I'm often wondering. After all, I'm that

0:39.1

little voice in your head, but you can call me LV. Hi, LV. What's up? And if there's one thing I know,

0:44.3

it's that we don't always do what we're told. Sometimes we're stirring up mischief. Please report to

0:49.0

the principal's office. Sometimes we're trying to spark change. Attention students, please stop protesting in the cafeteria.

0:55.9

This is a show about what happens when we break the rules growing up, and someone

1:00.0

shouts, ooh, you're in trouble.

1:02.8

Stories of rebels, rascals, rule breakers, and even revolutionaries.

1:19.4

I think from cradle on, I always heard from my parents' education was the road to success.

1:20.7

And I love school.

1:26.8

As a little girl in Little Rock, Arkansas, Carlotta has always been taught when opportunity knocks, you listen.

1:29.0

Life in the South in the 1940s wasn't easy for families like hers, which is why her parents

1:34.1

always told her,

1:35.2

Be prepared when the door opens, whether it's a crack in the door or flung wide open.

1:42.6

So, as you can imagine, getting an education was important to Carlotta.

1:47.4

Her favorite subject? History.

1:49.6

Okay, students, who here knows the name Harriet Tubman?

...

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