Brief Summary Of Melba Pattillo Beals 'Warriors Don' T Cry

Will Haughey

Warriors Don’t Cry The book Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals focuses on the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas following the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Topeka Board of Education in 1954. In 1957, she and eight other teenagers were selected to attend Central High School as an integration effort. These nine were known as the Little Rock Nine. What ensued in the 1957-1958 school year was a pitched battle over integration, involving the deployment of federal troops and lynch mobs. It wasn’t until around 1960 that the schools were finally integrated, but by then Melba was already attending college. Thirty years later, Melba and the rest of the nine met with Arkansas Governor and future President

An angry white mob surrounds Central High School as the National Guard surrounds the school. Despite the racist chants, Melba proceeds anyway. They are threatened and attacked by a group of white people, and see Elizabeth Eckford surrounded by an angry crowd with the National Guard preventing her from entering. They see that the National Guard has prevented her and 2 other students from entering. Back at home, Melba, fearful for her life, begs to go back to her old high school but India insists that Melba is not a quitter. Melba is confined to the house, with the threat of violence being so high. They receive a threat over the phone that promises to kill Melba and India once again sleeps that night armed with a

Melba’s continued attendance of Central High is causing problems for her family, as her mother is nearly fired because of Melba. Finally, Ernie, the oldest of the Little Rock Nine, graduates in May. After a tour of the United States, Judge Lemley delays integration for three years but the NAACP intends to fight the ruling. In response, the governor shuts down Little Rock’s high schools. India dies in 1958 of leukemia. Following the period of distress, the students are split up and sent across the county, and Melba is sent to California to live with a white family. In 1960, Melba attends San Francisco State University and meets a soldier named John, who she marires, upsetting Link. They split up some years later after having a daughter, due to Melba’s work. Melba goes to Columbia University and becomes a