50 years ago, three weeks before Little Rock

The city of Little Rock, Arkansas is busy preparing for the 50th anniversary of a turning point in the civil rights struggle: the fall of 1957, when nine black students faced down a mob to integrate Little Rock Central High School.

It promises to be quite an event -- last month, even the U.S. Mint issued a commemorative silver dollar showing the students making history as they walked to school.

But as with most major historical events, there's more to the story. This weekend, residents of the small western town of Charleston, Arkansas will honor students that quietly integrated their school in August 1954 -- three years before Little Rock -- making theirs the first school in Arkansas