1957: Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division escort the Little Nine students into Central High School. National Archives

UPDATE: RIP, Chadwick Boseman. 

From Variety comes news that Chadwick Boseman (“Black Panther”) and, oddly, Seth McFarlane (“Family Guy”) will be executive producers on a limited series drama about the Little Rock Nine, the nine students at the center of the desegregation crisis at Central High School in Little Rock. No word yet on what platform might pick up the series.

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Carlotta Walls LaNier, one of the Little Rock Nine, wrote a memoir in 2009 about her experiences at Central High, “A Mighty Long Way: My Journey To Justice At Little Rock Central High,” and the book serves as the series’ basis. LaNier will be a consultant on the series. Actor/playwright Eisa Davis, whose “Bulrusher” made her a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and who wrote a one-woman play for the Tennessee Women’s Theatre Project in 2009 about the life of Little Rock Nine student Melba Pattillo Beals, will write the script.

 

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