ernie, melba, minnie jean, elizabeth, gloria, terry, jefferson and selma. in the public mind, we are one, the little rock nine. but we are, in essence, nine distinct personalities with nine different stories. it is as much a story about the dedication of family, perseverance and sacrifice as it is about the journey and the history. it is my, it is a salute to my parents who stayed silently in the background and swallowed great risk and suffering. they were the ones who had ingrained in me the quiet confidence that jim crow be damned, i was not a second-class citizen. it was that confidence that told me i deserved the quality education the supreme court said i was due. the confidence that steadied my feet to defy the racists with my mere presence at school very single day. my participants be-- parents bequeathed to me the confidence of their fathers, both hard working black entrepreneurs in control of their own economic lives. my family may have seemed unlikely candidates for involvement in a movement that would spark nationwide change, but then again, that