High School of the Week- Central High School (Little Rock, Ark)

I must profess to enjoying the irony that we are featuring a photograph of former president Bill Clinton that was posted on a right-wing blog (of all places!) with our High School of Week which is the famous Central High School in the state capital of Little Rock.

It should be pointed out that Clinton actually graduated from Hot Springs High School in Hot Springs, Ark., but Central is actually the most recognized high school in the state, if not the nation, because it was the site of a major desegregation incident in 1957 that is considered to be a cornerstone in the Civil Rights movement.

One of the first black students involved with the desesgregation (also called "The Little Rock Nine") Jefferson Thomas recently died in Ohio at age 68 on Sept. 5.
Thomas was cited by President Barack Obama for his civic courage.

Clinton, who was then in office as president, celebrated the 40th anniversary of Central's desegregation with then Republican governor Mike Huckabee, who unsucessfully sought the GOP presidential nomination for 2008, in 1997.

Central HS has been cited nationally for academic excellence, and it has an enrollment of circa 2,422 students. Nancy Rousseau is principal of the school whose famous alumnus in recent years includes Green Day guitarist Jason White.

The school nickname is The Tigers, and in recent years they had the dubious distinction of losing 23 football games in a row.

But that certainly does not change the school's place in American history.