Melba's The Little Rock Nine

After her year as a Central High student was over and she was able to reflect upon her experiences, Melba came to the conclusion that the adults that watched the white children torment and abuse she and her friends were simply afraid. They were afraid of change. They were afraid that the social structure that placed them above blacks was going to crumble, leaving them at the mercy of people who they’ve kept down for so long. Most of all, Melba learned they were afraid that once blacks started going to the same school as their children, they may begin to date, marry and make families with their children.

A woman called Melba a nigger. The teacher soon starts with class. The same woman called Melba a nigger again. Soon Melba meets Mrs. Pickwick. Somebody asks what they are going to do about the nigger children. Soon they start speeding to get away from the people calling them niggers. Melba continues listening to the newscast that is currently happening. Soon the phone started ringing off the hook with angry calls from people. The chapter ends with an angry, mad mob in front of Central High.

After coming home from teaching, I found Melba coming home with a mysterious car. I had no idea who this car belonged to. I started to question her and panic. I was pacing around the room. I finally found out that this was a white boy’s car who seemed to have saved Melba from a boy named Andy. How are we going to trust a white boy? Who knows, he might have only done this because he wants to accuse us of stealing his car. But then I calmed down because if he had gone to the police, I’m sure someone would have already been here to look for it. I started to question how are we going to get his car back to him without letting anybody see us? He couldn’t be seen in our neighborhood and I wouldn’t dare to be seen in his, especially at night. Melba assured me he would call. We heard the phone ring and Melba rushed to pick it up. After their phone

Melba Pattillo Beals is the main character in this book. She was fourteen years old when she attended Central High in Little Rock, Kansas with eight other black students. While Melba attended the high school, she was spat on, slapped, and several sickening insults would be shouted at her. These actions led to Melba to not even fight back but to simply just say thank you and walk away. This was one of the factors that built up her courageous attitude that stuck with her throughout the rest of her journey.

In the all black community of Eatonville, Zora felt like members of her town saw her for who she was. There were no racial barriers in the community because of everyone’s shared culture and history. Growing up in her small community, she came to love it and she felt a strong tie to her hometown. She

In Conclusion , you can see how these three characters from the book were affected by racism. All of these situations were a tad bit different but you can see how they often got caught in the middle of what other people thought was right and what was really right. All humans should not be judge of their work ethic or ability to do something just cause of their skin color. We all live on the

Throughout If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin the main characters have to overcome the challenges of racism, and the traits that go hand and hand with it, justice and prejudice, to realize what they actually needed was the family love they already had. Even though there are many romantic and even some graphic passages in the book, Baldwin mainly focuses on how they had to come together as a family when Alonzo (Fonny) was in jail and awaiting trial. If Beale Street Could Talk is essentially a story about the human capacity to love.

Racism was hard for Melba, her family, and every person who was one of the little rock nine. Racism brought hate between black and white people. Racism is a bad thing. Melba’s mother shouted the words “epsom salts and water”, as she raced down the hall, desperately searching for a nurse. The woman was in digant, saying yes, come to think of it, the doctor had said something about epsom salts. “ But we don’t coddle niggers.” She growled.(page3). Why people write “colored” on all the ugly drinking fountains, the dingy restrooms, and the back of the buses.(page3). Melba wanted to ride the merry-go-round but the white man said “there’s no space for you here.”(page4).

Mel has to choose between two life changing decisions. On one hand it’s his friends, but on the other it’s his music career. He could join the Jazz band and leave the Garage band and his friends, but if he does this he could lose some of his friends, and if not he could lose new opportunities.

She remembers small details like how her friend only had black dolls to play with. She didn’t realize this at the time because she was so young, but she thinks that the reason why her friend’s parents weren’t too fond of her wasn’t necessarily because she was white, but because they were probably afraid of what would happen to them for associating with a white person, or if something bad had happened to her while under her supervision. Like in Mosaic, Ida B Wells discusses some of the reasons why black people were lynched. A lot of those reasons included being falsely accused of committing acts against a white person. Even if the black person did nothing and just happened to be there at the scene, they were almost always punished for it. For example, when white landowner’s wives would get pregnant and the baby ended up being of mixed race, even if it was never the black worker’s fault, they were blamed for it. This is why a lot of the times many African Americans fled from where they worked and were never to be seen again. “The daily papers last year reported a farmer’s wife in Alabama had given birth to a Negro child. When the Negro farm hand who was plowing in the field heard it he took the mule from the plow and fled… In Natchez, Mississippi, Mrs. Marshall,... [gave birth to a child who was] unmistakably dark. All were alarmed, and ‘rush of blood, strangulation’ were the conjectures, but the doctor, when asked the cause, grimly told them it was

Another example of racism that Melba faced was when the family would go to the grocery to get food they got charged extra than white people. When the family told the cashier this he started yelling and calling the family racial slurs and telling the family that they should have to pay extra, the family ended up paying this extra fee to avoid any violence the might ensue .

Danny the 101st guard said “when you let yourself lose your focus, you make big mistakes” This keep Melba going. She trusted Danny, this lead her to trust another white boy that help her Link. Link was her next

Author: Benjamin Fine Article title: Arkansas Troops Bar Negro Pupils; Governor Defiant Newspaper: The New York Times Publisher: The New York Times Date: September 4, 1957 Accessed date: February 28, 2014 Description This newspaper article was posted on NY-Times.com. It reports on the first day of integration at Central High School.

On the first day that Melba Patillo Beals went to school, she thought it was a nightmare. There was a huge mob outside Central High School, along with the Arkansas National Guard soldiers keeping them out. The image of Elizabeth Eckford really shows how it was. White people were surrounding them, cursing at them, of course saying the word “nigger”, and occasionally striking them (1994). It was so bad that Melba had to take the keys to their car from her mother and run away to escape. Imagine the sight of Melbas mother screaming at her “Melba, take the keys. Get to the car.

Warriors Don’t Cry is a compelling memoir that chronicles the events Melba Pattillo faced during the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. She was a pioneer during the civil right years. In 1957, Little Rock, Arkansas, much like other parts of the country, was not a safe place for a black teenage girl to live. Pattillo had a rough start in life. She was born on the day Pearl Harbor was attacked, December 7, 1941. A few weeks after her birth she almost died of an illness because a white nurse refused to care for her. Pattillo states that the hardship surrounding her birth was proof that she had a special purpose in life that had to be completed.