Tour Audio a Little Rock

Little Rock earned its name from a small outcropping of rock on the Arkansas River bank that French explorers used as a landmark in 1722. That same river still bisects the city today, and the Junction Bridge now lets pedestrians cross it on foot, connecting downtown to Argenta, the arts district on the North Shore. The capital grew quietly through the 19th century, moving cotton and timber, but it was thrust into history in September 1957 when nine Black students walked through the doors of Central High School under the escort of the 101st Airborne Division, forcing a showdown between federal law and a governor who had stationed the National Guard to block them.

That story is now told at the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, where the building itself still functions as a high school, which makes the museum unusual in American history: the events unfolded here, and learning still happens here.

A few miles away, the Clinton Presidential Center occupies a striking glass structure cantilevered over the Arkansas River, housing the largest archive of any presidential library in the country. The city's downtown core along the River Market District has rebuilt itself around farmers markets, independent restaurants, and a kayak park on the river that draws paddlers from across the South.