Melba Patillo Beals 'Warriors Don' T Cry

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

Throughout her experience, Melba’s views and attitudes changed quite a bit. When she first volunteered to be one of the first black students who would attend Central High School in Little

Little rock, Arkansas 1957 in Warriors don’t cry by Melba Pattillo Beals, her and eight other African American, high school students integrates Central High School. Only eight of the nine that begin at Central High lasted for the full year. Melba and her eight friends face new wars every day. These are some of the traits she uses to survive her year and overcome her enemies at Central High School. Melba relies on her courage, faith, and not only her physical strength, but her mental strength as well.

On May 17th, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, officially making the separation of blacks and whites in public schools unconstitutional (Beals 12). This ultimately led to a constant struggle in the South to keep schools segregated. The most notable situation occurred in the town of Little Rock, Arkansas during the 1957 school year. Nine black students volunteered to integrate into Central High. This constant struggle to turn the Supreme Court ruling into a societal norm was documented by one of the Little Rock Nine. Melba Pattillo Beals’s novel, Warriors Don’t Cry, depicts the forces in favor of integration, forces opposing integration, and the constant adversity faced by the Little Rock Nine.

Melba Pattillo Beals, the main character in the memoir “Warriors Don’t Cry”, never gave up and persevered when fighting for racial equality. When Melba was walking into school one day she thought to herself, “‘I squared my shoulders and tried to remember what grandma had said: God loves you child; no matter what he sees you as his precious idea’” (Beals 76). Melba along with her eight schoolmates made history when they decided to integrate Central High School. They wanted to show their friends that you always hold your head high, be determined, and never give up. While enduring, Melba taught her family and friends to also persevere. Fortifying her family in faith helped her to make it through the year. While standing her ground after many challenges Melba thought to herself, “‘I knew for certain something would have to change it I were going to stay in that school. Either the students would have to change the

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.

While she was there, she knew that her educational opportunities were not equal as the whites at Central High. In response to the inequality she decided to transfer to Central High with eight other black students from Horace Mann High School. Beals has so many achievements. She went on to graduate high school and college majoring in journalism. She was also awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP in nineteen fifty eight. Melba Pattillo Beals faced some challenges in her life. One challenge she faced was getting things threw at her and the rest of the Little Rock Nine. Another thing she faced was being yelled at while going to school. Her and the rest of the Little Rock Nine also had to deal with being threatened. It got so bad that they even had to get military escort to school so that nothing bad happened to them while going to school. While in school they had to deal with name calling, people knocking their food off their tray, and getting spitted on. There a lot of things that makes Ms. Beals important, and here’s a few of them. One thing that makes her important is she decided to still

Uniquely, Melba Pattillo Beals was an African American that helped integrate schools in Arkansas and gave African Americans a chance at a better education. Melba Pattillo Beals

Warriors Don’t Cry has many examples of volatile racism and covert racism that Melba has to encounter on a daily basis, but this racism still exists today.

Melba Beals has faced racism and segregation just for the reason she was black and she went to a school

Integration was a hard but major step in society, however, it was hard for others to accept the changes. There were many allies that the Little Rock 9 had but the allies were far outnumbered by the massive crowds of white people who were opposed to the recent integration. I used to think that the Little Rock 9 were fearful of Central High and were not ready to return for another day through the crowds of hatred. However, I now think that the little rock 9 were getting stronger and were realizing how lucky they were to have protection despite the violent crowds that spooked their minds. As shown in Chapter 7, Melba and the Little Rock 9 were full of fright on their first full day at Central High and were regretting the decision. However, in

In the exposition of Warriors Don't Cry we are introduced to the nine students from Central High when they are adults revisiting the school. The story then moves into Melba's memories of segregation as a child, and what she had to go through. Then we see her as a young teen who goes an all black school, and Melba signs up for the integration of Central High School. Before Melba went to Central, she was a target for the white segregationists, and she went through horrifying situations. The rising action is when Melba and the eight other students finally make it into Central, and they start their education. Although getting into the school was hard, it was harder to get out when the white segregationists piled into the school looking for the

North America, 1957, a group of nine, colored teenage boys and girls were admitted into the all white school of Central High. The Whites of the community were furious, allowing black children into their school created an uproar. The nine students endured taunts, insults, and even threats against their lives. The nine teenagers were dubbed the Little Rock Nine, named after their town Little Rock, Arkansas. A member of the Little Rock Nine, Melba Pattillo Beals, wrote a book about her everyday life while enduring school. Her book, Warriors Don’t Cry, shed light on her experiences and the horrors the children endured inside the walls of Central High. While at school Melba had become friends with one of the 101st soldiers there to protect her, he lead her through

To start off, “Warriors Don’t Cry” is a book written by Melba Pattillo Beals, one of the nine chosen to integrate the school, about her struggles Part of the reason this book is so timeless is because of how deep it goes into the issue. She really unearths a lot about the dark realm of racism. The book overall is a good read for people, especially teenagers, as they are now so privileged, they often forget how easy they truly have it. Beals gives this worldly view into her suffering, which can be purely described as traumatic, putting into perspective a time where struggling was so common simply because of skin color. Then there are the suicide rates today that have tripled since these times; it’s

In “Warriors Don’t Cry” , Melba made a tremendous change on herself and the way she viewed things while going through her journey during integration. Melba was always a smart and strong young lady, until she went to central high. Melba began to get insecure with who she was , so much to where she began to say she wanted to be white. While integration began , she wondered what made her so much different from the whites. That is when her confidence slowly began to drop. Grandma India always reminded Melba how important and special she was no matter what , so Melba began to be confident again. Therefore, Melba made a lot of progress through integration.