LITTLE ROCK – For the nine black students who integrated Central High School in 1957, the car ride to class often served as their only moment of refuge.

Protected behind windows and steel, Melba Pattillo Beals remembers the rides as therapeutic, with fellow student Ernest Green making a gallows joke about not "seeing the welcome wagon" when the nine arrived at the school.

The nine, who integrated Little Rock's Central High School surrounded by troops 50 years ago this week, were welcomed Sunday with smiles and handshakes from Gov. Mike Beebe and first lady Ginger Beebe.

They arrived at the Governor's Mansion for a reception, as the city begins the week of commemorative events surrounding their high school days in Little Rock. Gov. Orval Faubus called out the Arkansas National Guard, who turned the nine black students away from the school. Weeks later, President Dwight Eisenhower sent Army paratroopers to escort the students into the school Sept. 25, 1957, and ensure their safety.

Sunday, the nine arrived in white limousines and stood in front of a bank of cameras and reporters before going inside.

The governor pointed out the irony of standing with the Little Rock Nine, as they came to be called, in front of the mansion where Faubus made many of the decisions that kept them the targets of hatred from white segregationists.

Jefferson Thomas, Gloria Ray Karlmark and Ms. Beals made brief remarks, expressing thanks to the governor and stressing the importance of teaching the lessons of Central High.

"Change is possible. People's spirits change. People's attitudes change," Beals said. "Now we stand here this evening so proud, so happy, so joyous."

Elizabeth Eckford, Terrence Roberts, Thelma Mothershed Wair, Carla Walls LaNier, Ernest Green and Minnijean Brown Trickey applauded their comrades.

Their hair grayed and faces creased by time, they said a lot has changed, especially in Little Rock.

Eckford, who returned to the city in 1974, said many "sought to change the conversation" about what happened during the integration struggle. But now, public schools do tell the story, and a new museum, expected to draw 60,000 visitors a year, opens today.

At the press of a button, visitors will hear the story of September 1957 in the words of the nine black students, white students, teachers, parents, soldiers and reporters.

The 10,078-square-foot building, across the street from Central High School, replaces a center that could barely accommodate the 45,000 visitors who toured the site last year. Congress appropriated $6 million for the project.

Exhibits will tell of the harassment that followed the students, even though some students and teachers did make efforts to reach out to them.

Karlmark remembers a math teacher who told students her class was "all about trigonometry" and not the commotion outside. But LaNier said a chemistry teacher told her classmates he didn't want black students in his class. She said the teacher was dismissed.

Still, it wasn't safe at times even during the trips to school.

"I have memories of that because my father at that point was 67 years old, a retired man with a bad heart," Karlmark said. "He had people spitting on his windshield and spitting at him. [But] it didn't give him a heart attack because he, too, was determined."

It's important to remember what happened because it influenced education throughout the country, said historian Taylor Branch, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Parting the Waters, about desegregation.

"That was a turning point in history, because it said that when push comes to shove, two of the three branches of American government will respond on behalf of integration as part of the fundamental American heritage," he said. "It said that segregation is not compatible with American ideals."

Trickey said segregation still exists in divided schools that offer a "substandard, many-tiered" education. That occurs even at Central now, she said.

"We do segregation very well in the U.S., and our children are telling us this," Trickey said. "It's what we were telling the nation 50 years ago. We need to hear them and respond to them."

Fifty years ago, nine black high school students challenged segregation in the Deep South. Here is a chronicle of major events surrounding their integration:

May 17, 1954

The U.S. Supreme Court rules racial segregation in U.S. public schools is unconstitutional.

Aug. 23, 1954

The Arkansas NAACP petitions the Little Rock School Board for immediate integration.

Aug. 25, 1957

A mothers' group tries to get an injunction against integration. A federal judge later orders integration to proceed.

Sept. 2, 1957

Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus orders the state National Guard to block black students from entering the school.

Sept. 23, 1957

An angry mob of more than 1,000 whites gathers in front of the school as police escort the nine students inside. They soon leave for their safety. President Eisenhower orders federal troops to Little Rock.

Sept. 25, 1957

Under the protection of 1,200 members of the U.S. Army, the nine students attend their first full day of school at Central. Troops remain for the school year.

May 25, 1958

Ernest Green becomes the first African-American to graduate from Central.

SOURCES: U.S. National Park Service; Little Rock Central High School