Prompted by Federal Court order, the Little Rock, Arkansas school board was forced to reopen the public schools it had closed in previous desperate efforts to avoid racial desegregation.. When desegregation had begun two years earlier, the Little Rock Nine were entering the then all-white Central High. The Nine faced violent backlashes from white communities. For the following two years, the school board came up with excuse after excuse to delay integration of the City's public schools. Their efforts even included shutting down schools. Although the school board was forced to reopen its schools and desegregate them, it took 13 years for all grades in the Little Rock public school system to become fully, racially integrated.