The new Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site Visitor Center opened in September 2007 to mark the 50th anniversary of the high school's desegregation, when nine African-American students entered the school under federal troop protection. In 1957 the school became a crucial battleground in the struggle for civil rights. The nation watched as the "Little Rock Nine" attempted to enter the previously all-white school. With the help of television news, then in its infancy, the events commanded worldwide attention. Dramatic images of the conflict, along with the school's facade, seared themselves into the public's memory. Little Rock came to symbolize the federal government's commitment to eliminating separate systems of education for blacks and whites.