The obituary for Jerry Dhonau in The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette last month contained all of the usual information. He was 83 years old and lived in Little Rock and Albuquerque. He’d had a long career in journalism. Survivors included a wife, a daughter and a granddaughter.

But it also contained a forgotten slice of history. 

When a racist mob surrounded 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford near Little Rock Central High School on the morning of Sept. 4, 1957, he and a few other journalists — armed with only their notebooks, pencils and cameras — had protected her. 

Yet the article omitted a crucial fact about Mr. Dhonau: To some back then, he was a card-carrying enemy of the people.