Preview

Warrior's Dont Cry

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2557 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Warrior's Dont Cry
Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals-a first-hand account of the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. The book explores not only the power of racism but also such ideas as justice, identity, loyalty, and choice. Melba Patillo Beals was born on December 7, 1941, in Little Rock, Arkansas, on the same day that Japanese troops bombed the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor (now called Pearl Harbor Day). The first-born child of Lois and Will Patillo, Beals was born with a scalp infection, which caused significant complications. Her health was further compromised by the fact that she was African American; white nurses and doctors did very little to help her. Luckily, Beals’ mother spoke to a janitor who had overheard a doctor recommending Epsom salts to clean the infection. Beal’s mother got the Epsom salts and Beals survived. At the time that Beals was born, black and white people in many parts of America (especially the southern states) lived in a legally segregated society. After the Civil War, the “Jim Crow” Laws were put into place to thwart the advancement of black people, and during the time that Beal’s was a child, these laws severely restricted the rights of black people. Beals’ mother was a teacher, and her father worked for the railroad. Though they were better off than many other blacks in Arkansas, they were still subject to the same injustices as the rest of their community. As Beals describes in this book, most black people lived in constant fear of making white people angry and facing brutal, violent retaliation for even the smallest offense. For example, Beals witnessed her father stand powerless as the milkman sexually harassed her mother. Yet Beals’ mother, Lois, fought through the prejudices at the University of Arkansas and managed to obtain a master’s degree in education. Though Lois encouraged her husband, Will, to finish his degree as well, he felt unable to do so. By the time Beals was eleven,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    In Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo, an American middle school opened its doors to 9 brown students, later known as Little Rock Nine. During this desegregation period, the students face hate and discrimination but they fight the war with bravery and courage. Although Melba was the face behind the operations, without her team of support, she would have never been able to persevere. Her grandmother, India Pattillo Beals, Danny from the 101st Airborne Division, and Link, a white senior at the school were all critical throughout Melba’s journey to survive and…

    • 93 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Patillo Beals, is a memoir of the events involving the Integration at Little Rock Central High School. The story took place in 1957, but it is still told today. This book is still important because it shows how far we have come, and it shows how everyone was affected in the past. Everyone had a different view of the integration, but no one will ever forget what happened.…

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Warrior s Don t Cry

    • 1150 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The book, Warrior’s Don’t Cry is a memoir written by Melba Pattillo Beals. A way to know that…

    • 1150 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Warriors Dont Cry

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Warriors don’t cry is a well written book by Melba Patillo Beals. She was one of nine black teenagers who in 1957 integrated Little Rock Central High school. The book is about Martha’s view of how it was for her in the integration. Although you only get one view of the story, the way Melba wrote this book gives you enough details about how and what happened during this time. You should read this book you will enjoy the way it is put together. The amount of information you receive from this book will surprise you.…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the novel Warriors Don´t Cry, by Melba Pattillo Beals describes one young girls struggle to integrate in a horrifically bigoted community in the 1950s civil rights movement. For example, Melba voluntarily puts herself on the front line of the battle in Little Rock. After arriving for school the first day they are turned away by the national guard called out by the governor of Little Rock. This book is a timeline of hurtful events in her life during integration.…

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “‘Well, Dill, after all he’s just a Negro.’ ‘I don’t care one speck. It ain’t right somehow it ain’t right to do ‘em that way. Hasn’t anybody got any business talkin’ like that-it just makes me sick,’”(Lee, 266). In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird author Harper Lee lays out the story of the Finch family consisting of two siblings, Jem and Scout, along with their widowed father Atticus. This family is faced with a tough break when Atticus get appointed a case to defend an African American (Tom Robinson) in the time of extreme discrimination. Growing up shapes and builds minds to what will fully become of them in future years even though there may be obstacles to endeavor through the process.…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Warriors Don T Cry Essay

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Melba Pattillo Beals went to an all white school and in doing so helped her country. She wanted to be the first African American to go to Central High. One morning fifty soldiers came to help beals and the other 8 African American’s get into Central High safely. A Lot of the adults were worried for the little rock nine.Even though the adults were scared for the little rock nine they still continued to do what they think is right, so beals and the other eight students continued to go inside Central High. “We stepped up the front door of Central High School and crossed the threshold into that place where angry…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Before 1954 you would never have seen an African American in a White school. Once 1954 rolled around and the U.S. Supreme Court came to the decision to end segregation. In “Warriors Don’t Cry,” Melba Pattillo shares her story with the world of just how tough it was to be one of the first black students in an all white school. Her story shows how her perseverance and the mental and physical torture she went through would change the world forever.…

    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On the morning of the first day of school, Ruby Bridges' mother told her: "Now I want you to behave yourself today, Ruby, and don't be afraid." She walked past crowds of people screaming vicious racial slurs at her. No black child had ever before stepped foot on the white ground. Ruby did…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    this condition in her book Black Picket Fences by studying the lives of middle-class African…

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Warriors Don't Cry

    • 320 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I thought Warriors Don’t Cry was a profoundly uplifting as well as a profoundly depressing account of the integration of Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. When the U.S. Supreme Court declared that school segregation was unconstitutional, Beals was a schoolgirl in Little Rock. She knew that the good school that would prepare her best for college was Central High in Little Rock, and she wanted to be in the first group of black teenagers to integrate the school. This memoir is based heavily on Beals’ diary and her English-teacher mother's notes. It explains how the 15-year-old Beals decided to integrate Central High with eight classmates and what happened as a result of that decision. Beals's narrative is uplifting because she survived the ordeal, went on to college at San Francisco State University and Columbia University, and eventually returned to Little Rock in 1987 to be greeted by then-governor Bill Clinton and a black Central High student-body president. The tale is depressing because unrelenting violence saturates most pages, making a reader ponder how humans can act with so much hatred toward one another. The fact that the violence and hate was aimed at children is particularly depressing. The violence and hate came from all angles--white classmates, their parents, Little Rock rednecks, and even the school's teachers. Even Arkansas governor Orval Faubus, encouraged the violence. The goal was to drive the nine black students away from Central High before they could graduate. President Eisenhower responded by calling in federal troops, turning Central High into an armed battleground. The sense of immediacy in Beals's well-crafted account makes the events seem like they happened yesterday. Some samples of her diary entries showing her emotional state during all this would have made the accounts she describes much more powerful, but all in all this book is a good…

    • 320 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Warriors Don't Cry

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The book Warriors Don’t Cry is written by Melba Pattilo Beals who was one of the students who went to Central High School to help integrate it so black students could go to school with white. Melba was only 15 year old when she volunteered with her friends to go to Central High. Melba is a smart intelligent girl who always listen to her family, friends, and follow her Christian religion. Melba went through many difficulties throughout her year in Central High. People did so many horrifying things yet she stayed strong and never broke down to her promise to finish Central High. Throughout her autobiography I discovered many new themes one such as never give up.…

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The way white citizens in the United States treated the black citizens in this country was vile in the 50’s. The whites’ futile behavior towards the black people caused a massive, belligerent rival between the white and black people. Nine black students, from Little Rock Arkansas, were selected to attend the integration of an all white school called Central High School. One of the black students, Melba Pattillo Beals, wrote her experience of her integration with her eight friends in the novel, Warriors Don’t Cry. Melba explains the act of savagery she dealt with from the white people during the integration. Even though dealing with the white people's ferocious behavior was tough for Melba, she still found ways to be motivated to continue her quest. She was motivated from the response of religion, family, and society.…

    • 1377 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Summer Reading

    • 2768 Words
    • 12 Pages

    9th – 12th grade OSNAS students are required to read two novels if placed in an English Regular’s or Honor’s class and three novels if placed in an AP English class:…

    • 2768 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Why is it so hard to be a Black person living in America? It is an idea that the Whites do not want to see the Blacks as equal or superior. To prevent such thing from happening, Whites set up obstacles that stand in the way of Blacks ever reaching their full potential. Therefore, Blacks must go through White supremacy and stereotyping on the daily basis in order to survive. This is evident in the novels and stories read in African American Literature course. First, in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Younger family is denied their rights of freedom when the Welcome Committee does not want them to move into their new home in the White neighborhood. Second, in The Emmett Till Murder Case by Douglas O. Linder, Emmett Till is killed when he attempts to talk to a White…

    • 305 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays