Warriors Don't Cry
The book, Warriors Don't Cry, is a sad, yet encouraging story of a courageous young lady. At the age of thirteen Melba Patillo Beals volunteered to integrate Central high in Little Rock, Arkansas. On May 17, 1954 the Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas that separate schools for whites and blacks were illegal. Melba often dreamed of seeing the inside of Central High. The best education and preparation for college was believed to happen inside of those doors. When she finally told her grandmother and mother that she volunteered to integrate they began to fear for Melba's life. This memoir of Melba's diary and her mother's notes explain how she decided to integrate with eight other students and the profound struggles they faced in every day life. In 1957, her fate began. Two weeks after the first attempt to integrate Central High the "Little Rock Nine" stepped foot into the huge and overwhelming school.
Operation Arkansas: A Different Kind of Deployment...
New York City Mayor Robert Wagner greeting the tee...
Little Rock, 1959. Rally at state capitol. Photogr...The nine of them faced extreme violence every day. The teachers and students never let them walk by without some kind of rude comment. Melba was tripped, kicked, spat on, and verbally abused. Every day she spent in Central High there was a new struggle to overcome. She held strong and would only cry when she was behind the doors of her bedroom. The only place she could escape reality. Melba was one of "God's Warriors".
When Melba decided to volunteer for integrating Central High, she never told her family about her decision. The students that were to start the integration at Central High were being named on the news. When Melba's family was watching the news that evening, that is when her family finally found out what Melba had done. Not many people agreed...