Elizabeth Paisley Huckaby (14 April 1905 in

Hamburg, Arkansas Hamburg is a city in and the county seat of Ashley County, Arkansas, Ashley County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,857 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The population declined by more than 10% between 2010 and 2020, ...

– 18 March 1999 in

Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

) was an educator. As the Vice-Principal for Girls of

Little Rock Central High School Little Rock Central High School (LRCH) is an accredited comprehensive education, comprehensive public high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, Little Rock, Arkansas, Secondary education in the United States, United States. The school was the Little ...

, Huckaby was given the responsibility for protecting the six female members of the first nine black students admitted to the school after

desegregation Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation), leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws ...

. Her book ''

Crisis at Central High ''Crisis at Central High'' is a 1981 made-for-television movie about the Little Rock Integration Crisis of 1957, based on a draft of the memoir by the same name by former assistant principal Elizabeth Huckaby.

: Little Rock 1957–58'', published in 1980, was based on a diary she kept on the events. The daughter of a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

minister, Huckaby earned a B.A. and M.A. in education from the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

, where she was elected to

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

as an undergraduate. Her husband, Glenn Huckaby, was a long-time educator with the Little Rock School District. She was portrayed by

Joanne Woodward Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an American retired actress. She made her career breakthrough in the 1950s and earned esteem and respect playing complex women with a characteristic nuance and depth of character. ...

in the 1981 TV film based on ''Crisis at Central High''.
Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture page on Elizabeth Huckaby

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huckaby, Elizabeth 1905 births 1999 deaths 20th-century American educators People from Hamburg, Arkansas People from Little Rock, Arkansas University of Arkansas alumni Little Rock Nine