Essay on Beals’ Reflection and Analysis

In the book Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals, the author describes what her reactions and feelings are to the racial hatred and discrimination she and eight other African-American teenagers received in Little Rock, Arkansas during the desegregation period in 1957. She tells the story of the nine students from the time she turned sixteen years old and began keeping a diary until her final days at Central High School in Little Rock. The story begins by Melba talking about the anger, hatred, and sadness that is brought up upon her first return to Central High for a reunion with her eight other classmates. As she walks through the halls and rooms of the old school, she recalls the

On May 17, 1954, in the Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education, the High Court, for the first time in American legal history, challenged the “separate but equal” doctrine previously established in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and outlawed racial segregation in public schools. The decision, igniting fierce debates throughout the country, was met with violence and strong defiance in the South. The years after Brown, however, saw the passing of several important Acts: the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Today, Americans remember Brown v. Board of Education as a success in African Americans’ struggle for equal rights, a change of sea tide for the civil rights movement. While

In 1951 schools were separated by skin color, or segregated. The Brown v. Board of Education trial was brought to court because a third-grader, Linda Brown, was not allowed to attend the elementary school that was closest to her house. She wa required to take the bus to school across town instead. In the trial the point that “Education for Negroes is almost nonexistent(13).” This is an example of how there were old problems in the Fourteenth Amendment that needed to be changed. Another issue that was brought up in the trial was that, “Segregation… has a tendency to retard the educational and mental development of negro children…(19).” Without the proper education at segregated

Starting her second education, she was forced to drop out to care for her ailing grandmother. With Jim Crow’s Law, heavily in affect, her childhood was greatly influenced by the segregation between white people and black people in almost every part of their lives.

These problems that were being seen at young ages were not likely to go away with time because their learning had already been delayed. Furthermore, the supreme court saw segregation at schools as unconstitutional, “Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, case in which on May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously (9–0) that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits the states from denying equal protection of the laws to any person within their jurisdictions,”(Duignan). The education of the student was not the only thing being denied but also the chance to have protection in their own home. The supreme court agreed it was unconstitutional because idea of “Separate but equal,” set up by the Plessy vs. Ferguson court case was not at all being

Ruby Briges was born on the exact same year as the Supreme Court’s Brown Vs. Board of Education decision in the school is noticable coincidence in her early life into Civil Rights movement . When she was in the kindergarten , she was one of the African- American students in New Orleans who been choosen to take a test to be determining whether or not she can attend a all white school . The idea they planned was that if all the African American failed the test , then in New Orleans all the schools might be able to stay segregated for a while . Ruby lived five blocks away from an all white school , but she attened kindergarten serval miles away , at an all black school .

Brown v. The Board of Education was one of the most critical Supreme Court cases in history, defying the social structure of the country, challenging the law, and sparking a revolution. Its decision made on May 17, 1954 stated that “separate facilities are inherently unequal” which granted victory to Oliver Brown. This Supreme Court case deemed the declaration of state laws to separate public schools for whites and colored to be unconstitutional, but there was nothing the court could do to prevent racism towards the minorities. Although the government could integrate the schools, there was nothing the government could do to eliminate the racism that creeped the streets of our nation. This ruling was extremely controversial,

As Beals stated, “Step by step we climbed upward where none of my people had ever before walked as a student.” This quote explains that segregationist mobs “threw out” black people, because of the color of their skin, from white -high schools. It also shows that she was one of the nine black people/students that stopped segregation and discrimination in schools for her country. Also, to add to that, almost everyone was rude and yelled racial slurs, while the mobs were vet unhappy and gave threats; physically and verbally. As Beals stated, “Some of the white people looked totally horrified, while others raised their fists to us. Others shouted ugly words.” This quote shows how the white people (mobs) were rude and shouting “ugly words” and racial

Melba Beals was one of the first nine black students facing admission an all white high school. She entered Central High School as one of the “Little Rock Nine”. At the time, not only were Beals and the other eight students being prevented from Central High by angry mobs, but the Arkansas Governor had sent the National Guard to carry out that plan. Under these circumstances, President Eisenhower sent federal troops there, making sure the students got in safely. In addition,Beals experienced angry segregationist mobs and furious white people while arriving at her new school. Racist people and thoughts of segregation clouded her mind. As Beals states, “Some of the white people looked totally horrified, while others raised their fists at us.”

Melba Beals was one of the first black students to integrate into a full white school in Arkansas. Before she could go to the new school, the Governor of Arkansas, commanded a National Guard to block the path to the white school, however president Eisenhower wanted these blacks to integrate, so he arranged some guards to take the nine, black students into the school. Beals had to face bountiful obstacles such as a National Guard, the Arkansas governor, angry segregationist mobs, rejection from white schools, and being racially insulted. She said that on the way to her school, she took “the path the Arkansas National Guard has blocked us(nine black students) from days before. . . and crossed the threshold into that place where angry segregationist

The Supreme Court, knowing that there will be opposition their decision, especially in the southern states, did not immediately give a means for implementation of its ruling. Rather, the Supreme Court asked the attorney generals in all of the states to submit plans for how to proceed with desegregation in states where segregation in public schools were permitted (“Brown v. Board of Education (1954)”). Because of this, it would take the years to come before the school system was able to become desegregated. One of the immediate actions Brown v. Board of Education did overturn was the decision made in Plessy v. Ferguson. The effects of Brown v. Board of Education could still be seen in today’s current society. The most notable effect is the court decision desegregated schools. Due to the overall success of the court case the NAACP

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, insofar as it applied to public education. Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Warren Court 's unanimous (9–0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." As a result, de jure racial segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This ruling paved the way for integration and was a major victory of the Civil Rights Movement.[1] However, the decision 's fourteen pages did not spell out any sort of method for ending racial segregation in schools, and the Court 's second decision in Brown II only ordered states to desegregate "with all deliberate speed".

Narrator: In the 1950s and 60s, racial segregation was still prevalent in the United States and Australia. There were many people, including government bodies, who wanted to solve this problem of racism and desegregate the American society. On the 17th of May 1954, the US Supreme Court decided that segregation in America’s public schools was ‘unconstitutional’. So, the US government decided to enrol 9 black American teenagers in the Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. 5 years later, another African American, James Meredith, decided to enrol in the University Ole Miss in Mississippi. He was twice denied admission, but he filed a law suit against them, with the case eventually settling in 1962. His enrolment received severe backlash,

Michelle goes as far as to say that Bowie State was founded as an “act of defiance, and eloquent rebuttal to the idea that black people couldn’t or shouldn’t be educated.” In her speech she also gives several examples of African American defiance through time. One of these examples is the story of a young African American girl named Ruby Bridges. Ruby was just six years old when she became one of the first black children in New Orleans to attend an all-white school. In retaliation, many white parents pulled their children out of school and all but one of the teachers refused to teach her, but the Bridges family continued to persevere.

On Ruby’s first day of school, she did not spend her time learning, instead, she sat in the principal’s office with her mother as angry white parents removed their children from the William Frantz Elementary School. Some parents were so angry with the integration rules that they had withdrawn their children permanently.