In Melba Pattillo Beals’ Warriors Don’t Cry, she recalls her adolescent years as being one of the nine African American students that chose to attend an all-white high school. In this memoir, she brings to light all of the horrible attacks they underwent. As a young girl, Melba became aware of the separation between whites and blacks, and strived to rise above that. She had a very religious family and black people during this time period learned to accept that they were less-privileged because of their skin color. She went to visit some relatives in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was astonished when white people were nice, or simply even smiled at her. This motivated her to enroll in an all-white high school behind her family’s backs. Once her mother found out, she was furious because of the dangerous and negative attention that would be drawn to them.
In 1954, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas that the “separate but equal” law was now considered unconstitutional. Melba sees little to no transformation and prayed for an opportunity to somehow make a change. After several meetings, NAACP officials registered nine black students to the all-white Little Rock Central High School in 1957. These students were
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As a matter of fact, the very first day that they tried to enter Central High, they did not even make it into the school. Thousands of people knew about this major event, and angry mobs rioted the surrounding areas of the school. There were white people making nasty threats and frightening comments, and did anything to prevent those nine children from entering that school. Even the governor called for National Guardsmen to block the students from entering. Although the students went through anguish just to simply get an education, they held their heads high because they knew they were making
In her memoir, Warriors Don’t Cry Melba Beals discusses her experience with integrating Central High School, where she experiences harsh treatment. The vivid details provided in Warriors Don't Cry make for a good book because it allows readers to experience the mistreatment Little Rock Nine had to face. Initially reading Warriors Don’t Cry, I thought that the book would lack detail to help protect the identities of those who harmed Melba. However, when I continued reading I began to feel as though I were experiencing integration with Melba. My emotions would go from being excited to being angry.
Board of Education signified the first time that the Supreme Court was on the African American side. This court case was a direct challenge to Plessy v. Ferguson, which stated that separate but equal facilities were equal. The book Warriors Don’t Cry is set directly during this period. In 1957, Governor Orval Faubus blocked the integration of nine students from Little Rocks Central High. President Eisenhower eventually became involved for a few reasons; one was because Governor Faubus was making an obvious resistance to federal authority.
Humans are diverse, and although many share similarities, they all have differences. These differences may be difficult for some people to accept, which leads to prejudice towards those who are different. In the memoir, Warriors Don’t Cry, written by Melba Pattillo Beals, Beals reveals the many obstacles she faced attending Central High, a now integrated school, as an African American in 1957. Everywhere she went, hateful words were thrown at her, but she persevered and did not let ignorant students get to her. Some might say those who suffer from discrimination become weaker and develop anger within them.
When the nine black students tried to attend an all-white school on September 4, 1957, although they had the right, they were denied. Not only were they denied the right from the students but from adults and people of political influence in Arkansas. The Little Rock Nine were part of a major part of the Civil Rights movement and consisted of three boys and six girls. Central High School was the first high school in the south to set to be desegregated since the United States Supreme Court had ruled in Brown vs Board of Education, that separate education was unconstitutional. Inspired, Elizabeth wanted to become a lawyer, and she thought Central would help her realize that dream.
When the Little Rock Nine were met with such fierce racism and hatred but still went to Central High, African Americans were inspired to fight for desegregation
Turning Points are often when something unexpected or something you can’t control happens in your life. The texts that concluded this idea was the Autobiography “ Warriors Don’t Cry’’ by Melba Pattillo Beals, the poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, and the Drama excerpt “Dragonwings”by Lawrence Yep. Melba Pattillo Beals, The Main Character of The Road Not Taken, and Moonshadow all faced life changing experiences, that changed a big part of their lives. “Warriors Don’t Cry’’ by Melba Pattillo Beals is an Autobiography about how Melba Pattillo Beals was being escorted to go to school by fifty uniformed soldiers because of the color of her skin. The Turning Point that Melba faced, was when she was walking up the steps into Central High school were angry segregationist mobs had forbidden her and other students to go.
In the 1994, Melba Pattillo Beals reflected on her high school years of integration, which was back in 1957. She then published her memoir, Warriors Don’t Cry, which explicitly describes the hardships and battles she had to overcome living in a segregated time. In her novel, she writes, “Hearing the word ‘police’ terrified me, Daddy and Mother Lois were afraid of the police” (Beals 19). Melba was just a child when she was exposed to the cruel reality that colored people faced in the 1940s. Because this was a segregated time, Melba’s parents feared police.
Brown v. Board of Education During the 1950’s, aspects of slavery and discrimination were still prevalent in the United States, even after the 13th amendment was passed in 1865, which abolished slavery. African Americans were separated from the whites and forced into worse facilities under the justification of “separate, but equal.” This is the time period and world that Linda Brown, an eight year old African American girl, had to endure. The United States had old policies and old rules that were still in place and it was only a matter of time until someone took a stand.
The civil rights movement was a time of challenges and achievements with the goal of equality for African Americans, Women, and Native Americans . African Americans were not recognized in the United States as equal but as separate. The Brown v Board of Education court case occurred on May 17, 1954. The ruling was that separate but equal schools were deemed unconstitutional. In three years Central High School would begin integration starting with nine African Americans.
Imagine getting up everyday before high school and preparing for war. For Melba Pattillo Beals this fear was a scary reality. In the beginning of “Warriors Don 't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock 's Central High” by Melba Pattillo Beals, she begins talking about what it’s like to come back to the haunted racist halls of Little Rock Central High School. This was a time when civil rights was a major issue and the color separation between white and black was about to be broken. Melba and nine other students entered Central High School becoming the first African American students to go to an all white school.
A prominent thematic throughout the novel, Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Patillo Beals is self-reliance. In many instances throughout the novel, Melba must be brave and is sometimes not able to rely on anyone else but herself. There are many figures in the novel that help her overcome obstacles but in many cases, she is forced to fight the battle on her own. One could imply that the tone of the novel is fearful because she is terrified in multiple occasions and is forced to overcome these challenges. The theme of self-reliance for Melba starts when she joins Central High.
In 1957, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas’s decision, segregation in public education violated the Fourteen Amendment, but Central High School refused to desegregate their school. Even though various school districts agreed to the court ruling, Little Rock disregarded the board and did not agree to desegregate their schools, but the board came up with a plan called the “Blossom plan” to form integration of Little Rock High despite disputation from Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus. Desegregating Central high encountered a new era of achievement of black folks into the possibility of integrating public schools, and harsh resistance of racial integration. Although nine black students were admitted into Little Rock harsh violence and
In the book Warriors Don 't Cry, Melba and her friends integrate into Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Melba and her friends experiences troubles as she tries to survive integration. Beals reveals a lot of things that would gives hint to things that we see ahead. The book mainly focuses on the south, light has been shed on events in the north around the same time when the Little Rock Nine (Bars) integrated. This essay will make inferences that show how people in the southern schools will continue to be ruthless and slow acceptance for the nine and for the north schools how whites will except African-Americans more.
Even though the media displayed false information about the 1957 integration of Little Rock Central High School it changed peoples views on segregation. In A Mighty Long Way Little Rock, Arkansas nine African American students wanted to go to a well educated high school but they do not understand why so many people are angered that they are just getting a better education. During the integration of Little Rock Central High School in 1957, the media illuminated certain events and painted an inaccurate or incomplete picture of other events. The media illuminates many important events that show how racist white people are treating black people and showing people in the North who are against segregation and support integration.
First off, the governor closed all the schools in Little Rock, so no one could attend. Not only were all the students greatly affected, but the families of the Little Rock Nine had the more major punishments. Many of them were quickly fired from their jobs to reduce more conflicts with business. Once the schools were finally opened back up, each of the nine students were separated throughout the different schools, which caused even more awareness that schools needed to become desegregated. The impact that the Little Rock Nine had on today is the fact schools are all officially desegregated.