The 2007 Little Rock Central High School Desegregation Silver Dollar was the second of two commemorative coin series to be issued by the US Mint in that year. It marked the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas.
These coins were authorized through the passage of the Little Rock Commemorative Coin Act (Public Law 109-146). In the Act, Congress described the importance of the occasion with: "In 1957, Little Rock Central High was the site of the first major national test for the implementation of the historic decision of the United States Supreme Court in Brown, et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka."
Congress authorized 500,000 of the coins in both proof and uncirculated condition.
The obverse of each silver dollar shows the legs of a group of children being escorted to class by a soldier reminiscent of the struggles went through by the "Little Rock Nine" (the group of students who first tested the desegregation of the school. Surrounding the design are nine stars representative of those students along with the inscriptions of DESEGREGATION IN EDUCATION, LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST and 2007. It was designed by United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program Master Designer Richard Masters and sculpted by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Charles Vickers.
On the reverse is a depiction of the school where desegregation was first tested, as it appeared circa 1957. It was designed and sculpted by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Don Everhart and also shows the inscriptions of LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, ONE DOLLAR, E PLURIBUS UNUM and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Surcharges collected on the sale of these strikes were forwarded to the "Secretary of the Interior for the protection, preservation, and interpretation of resources and stories associated with Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, including site improvements at Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, development of interpretive and education programs and historic preservation projects, and the establishment of cooperative agreements to preserve or restore the historic character of the Park Street and Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive corridors adjacent to the site," according to the authorizing Act.
