Hazel Massery

Hazel Bryan Massery (born January 31, 1942 She was depicted in an iconic photograph taken by photojournalist Will Counts in 1957 showing her shouting angrily at Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine, during the Little Rock Crisis.

Little Rock High School

On September 9, 1957, nine African-American students entered Little Rock Central High School as the school's first black students, including Elizabeth Eckford. On her way to the school, a group of white teenage girls followed Eckford, chanting "Two, four, six, eight! We don't want to integrate!" One of these girls was Massery. Benjamin Fine of The New York Times later described her as "screaming, just hysterical, just like one of these Elvis Presley hysterical deals, where these kids are fainting with hysteria." Massery also shouted, "Go home, nigger! Go back to Africa!"

After the photo became public, Massery started to receive "critical" mail, mostly from the North. Author David Margolick wrote that while Massery only found the criticism "surprising", her parents found her sudden notoriety sufficiently alarming to pull her out of the school."

Communication with Elizabeth Eckford Despite feeling awkward when they met again in 1997, Eckford and Massery briefly became friends.

By the year 2000, the two were no longer in regular contact. When asked for permission to reprint a poster titled "Reconciliation" showing Eckford and Massery shaking hands, Eckford granted it with a requirement that a small sticker be included stating, "True reconciliation can occur only when we honestly acknowledge our painful, but shared, past."