city, capital of Arkansas, U.S. It is the seat of Pulaski county, on the Arkansas River in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains in the central part of the state. In 1722 Bernard de la Harpe, a French explorer, saw on the bank of the Arkansas River two conspicuous rock formations, which he reputedly named La Petite Roche and La Grande Roche. Near the smaller rock was a Quapaw Indian settlement, which La Harpe made his trading post. The “little rock” later became the abutment for a railway bridge. The “big rock,” 2 miles (3 km) further upstream, was the site of an army post and later a veterans hospital.

In 1957 the city became the focus of world attention over the right of nine black students to attend Central High School under a gradual desegregation plan adopted by the city school board in accordance with the 1954 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court holding racial segregation (segregation, racial) in public schools unconstitutional. The result was a test of power between the federal and state governments. Governor Orval E. Faubus ordered the state militia to prevent blacks from entering the school, but the state was enjoined from interfering by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower (Eisenhower, Dwight D.), who sent federal troops to the city to maintain order. Within the next decade, desegregation was accomplished in all public schools. In 1998 President William J. Clinton (Clinton, Bill) signed legislation designating Central High School a national historic site and awarded each of the “Little Rock Nine” the Congressional Gold Medal.