<P> This view was short lived, however . Changes were made to the plan, the most detrimental being a new transfer system that would allow students to move out of the attendance zone to which they were assigned . The unaltered Blossom Plan had gerrymandered school districts to guarantee a black majority at Horace Mann High and a white majority at Hall High . This meant that, even though black students lived closer to Central, they would be placed in Horace Mann thus confirming the intention of the school board to limit the impact of desegregation . The altered plan gave white students the choice of not attending Horace Mann, but didn't give black students the option of attending Hall . This new Blossom Plan did not sit well with the NAACP and after failed negotiations with the school board; the NAACP filed a lawsuit on February 8, 1956 . </P> <P> This lawsuit, along with a number of other factors contributed to the Little Rock School Crisis of 1957 . </P> <P> Several segregationist councils threatened to hold protests at Central High and physically block the black students from entering the school . Governor Orval Faubus deployed the Arkansas National Guard to support the segregationists on September 4, 1957 . The sight of a line of soldiers blocking out the students made national headlines and polarized the nation . Regarding the accompanying crowd, one of the nine students, Elizabeth Eckford, recalled: </P> <P> They moved closer and closer...Somebody started yelling...I tried to see a friendly face somewhere in the crowd--someone who maybe could help . I looked into the face of an old woman and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked at her again, she spat on me . </P>

Brown v board of education little rock nine