District Judge Ronald Davies ordered the school board to proceed with desegregation the next day, but Faubus ignored the federal order. When the students arrived at Central high on the morning of Sept. 4, they were met by a mob of angry whites and turned away by guardsmen.Eight of the students arrived together, but 15-year-old Eckford arrived alone on the other side of the campus . She was soon surrounded by the jeering mob. She later recounted, “I tried to see a friendly face somewhere in the mob—someone who maybe would help. I looked into the face of an old woman and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked at her again, she spat on me.”Pictures of the young girl being abused by whites became a symbol of the widespread, and often violent, resistance to desegregation efforts in the U.S.