Little Rock Nine

Author: Melba Pattillo Beals Book title: Warriors Don’t Cry. Publisher: Pocket Books City of publication New York Year of publication: 1994. Description: This book is a memoir by one of the Little Rock Nine. It recollects the first year of the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, AK.

Did you know that without the Little Rock Nine our schools might still be segregated. The Little Rock Nine were the first black students to attend a white school. Parents and the Governor of Arkansas tried to keep the schools segregated. President Eisenhower found out of this, and sent help to the black students. With the white parents and governor against the; The Little Rock Nine affected the school system with the help of President Eisenhower.

Tariq Ali once said, “It was civil disobedience that won them their civil rights.” In Melba Pattillo Beals’ narrative, “ Warriors Don’t Cry,” Melba defies all odds just by integrating to the all white Central High School in Little Rock. Through her novel, Melba is able to reminisce on the difficulties and struggles and the justice and inequality that occurs throughout Central High using figurative language. Though the author’s use of metaphors, similes and situational irony, the reader is able to pick up on Melba’s determination and obstacles she had to face in order to conquer and overcome integrating into Central High School.

Over thousands of blacks were discriminated in the 1950s because of their skin color. Blacks and whites were prohibited to go to the same school just because of their skin color. However, in the year of 1957 the Little Rock Nine were the first nine black students that integrated to Central High. If this group of people didn’t have the courage to attend Central High our schools would be extremely different today.

What was Little Rock Nine? It was a group of nine African American's who had enrolled to an all-white school in September of 1957. In 1954 Little Rock, Arkansas supreme court had passed the bill that segregation in public schools would be considered "unconstitutional". On September 4, 1957 was the first day at Central High. Orval Faubus (governor) had called for Arkansas National Guard to convoyer all the "black" students from entering the school. During that month President Dwight D. Eisenhower went and sent federal troops to help sheild the "Little Rock Nine" into the school.

In 1957, Little Rock, a town in Arkansas, was one of the first places in the south to have integrated schools. The Little Rock Nine was a group that started the desegregation process. They were a group of nine African-American boys and girls who were going to integrate Central High School. This caused many problems with segregationists because they did not want their schools integrated. Segregationists created mobs around Central and did many things in protest. At Central many of the African-American kids experienced bullying. As a result, they fought through the bullying and pursued. Photographs, television, and newspapers were all news mediums used to illuminate events surrounding the Little Rock Nine even though they weren’t always correct.

Little Rock Nine was known for being nine African American students who went to Little Rock’s all-white Central High School in the fall of 1957. They were sent there because of their “academic excellence and willingness to become racial pioneers.” says The Struggle for Freedom: A History of African Americans. The students were told that the National Guardsmen was going to be there that morning but on September 4th, they soon found out that the National Guardsmen was not there to protect the nine of them from angry white citizens, but to block them from getting into the school. On September 4th they were not successful in enter the school But the nine of them were determined and were not want to give up. So the following day, Daisy Bates, head of the NAACP’s local branch, arranged for them to meet to walk to the school together. One of the students named Elizabeth Eckford, did not have a phone in her home so she did not receive the memo. While she walked to school alone angry crowd of whites surrounded her, when she arrived to the school all alone. She was scared and confused all at once, so she sat tensed up on a bench. Luckily a white woman intervened and walked Elizabeth to safety. The other eight students made it to the school together and was turned around again

One “key event” of the American Civil Rights Movement occurred when nine African- American students enrolled in an all- white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas on September 4, 1957. (History). Although, in 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public school was unconstitutional, integration was not common at the time and many people were upset with the changes including the governor, Orval Faubus (History). This essay will present information on the life and achievements of the students that were apart of the Little Rock Nine.

Imagine it being the first day of school and seeing a mob of white teenagers your age not letting you in the school, just because you were “colored”. Well back then … all the colored were used to threats, to eyerolls, and to mental and physical hurting by the white. Desegregation was a huge impact for the children and the education. There was segregation in buses, parks, shops, public restrooms, especially in schools, there was an all-white school, and an all-black school. The desegregation of schools was taken place in the 1950’s and the 60’s. Little Rock Nine was a humongous impact in the civil rights

The little rock 9 were a group of students chosen by the NAACP to test the new desegregation laws passed

The Little Rock Nine had a huge impact on the world, but at the time, they just thought that they were nine students going through unfair treatment, harassment, threats, protesting, and assaults. Through it all, they were determined to make this work whether they were to be accepted or not. They “stirred up a chapter of history that would become an important part of the Civil Rights Movement” (Natasha).

The Civil Rights Movement was a dark time in American History, but with the help of many special people, The African Americans were able to achieve their goal. The Whites used violence against the African Americans, while The African Americans believed in nonviolent protest. In the book, Voices of Freedom: An Oral History of the Civil Rights Movement from the 1950s through the 1980s, Henry Hampton and Steve Fayer include firsthand accounts describing the situation during the time of The Little Rock Nine. At the time, schools were segregated and African Americans felt that schools should integrate.

The Little Rock Nine was a group of nine African American students that were admitted to Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, on September 4, 1957. The Supreme Court made the decision of desegregating the schools. Carlotta Walls, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Jefferson Thomas, Minnijean Brown, Melba Pattillo Beals, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Terrence Roberts, and Elizabeth Eckford made history. They went through many tough situations just trying to get inside the school. When the nine students made it inside, the struggle was then to survive with all the racist people there to stop them from reaching their only goal. Superintendent Blossom told them that they could not have a normal high school experience. Torture was present everyday

A war that the Little Rock Nine students must prove that they are capable of going against the dominated force that discrimination presents itself as. In addition, within using the word choices, “…I just need to be a girl”, demonstrates how Melba, doesn’t just want to go against society, but she wants to regain her freedom. She as with the other students, want to break the chains that were always bringing them down, even from their first cries at birth. In reference to the novel, Warriors Don’t Cry, the segregationists kept stating, “One nigger down, eight to go” (Beals, 151). These six words provide an astonishing viewpoint of individuals struggling to regain their freedom, to set the course back to when they were little kids.

America has had quite a history. Moreover, America has had a distinct history concerning racial differences. From the Civil War to the Civil Rights Act, America has showed past that is unforgettable. However, America has showed a history concerning African Americans that still show up in our present today. The Little Rock Nine, staged in 1957, proves that we are not that far away from our previous actions against a different race. In the American heritage and main structure of government, it says that all men are created equal. This paper will tell of the Little Rock Nine and their struggle, and how it has changed America for the better.