““Faubus, seeking headline-grabbing fame, was enthusiastically re-elected in 1958 and for three more terms after that. In the 1958–59 academic year he closed all the schools in Little Rock rather than see desegregation in the city. Other emboldened southern leaders followed in his footsteps and swelled massive resistance throughout much of the South in the late 1950s. By 1960 blacks were despairing about the chances for meaningful help from politicians and were resolving to take action themselves.””