While Beals marched into the Central High School, she had to face the white mob of people who were being racist around her. She also had to take a great risk while entering
Life is presented with a turning point, or life changing experiences, whether it is good or bad. Some people who had a life changing experiences had changed their lives, and also their countries’ lives. Three people that had a turning point in their lives are, Melba Pattillo Beals from memoir Warriors don’t ryWarriors Don’t Cry, Jackie Robinson from autobiography I Never Had It Made, and “The Father of Chinese Aviation” by Rebecca Maksel, which highlights Feng Ru. Melba Pattillo Beals, Jackie Robinson, and Feng Ru had affected their country, and their lives.
Facing the segregationists and the horrors of the South, Melba Pattillo was a strong warrior on the battlefield of racism for all people of color across the world. Beginning with the integration into Central High School, the brave 9 children hit waves upon waves of mobs and white people giving their all to get rid of them. Melba has gone through hell and back facing attacks of anything from sticks of dynamite to acid being thrown in her eyes. Her dignity and courage gave her the strength to refuse to back down and make a remarkable story.
In the story Warriors Don’t Cry, Melba Pattillo was one of the Little Rock Nine students who attended an all-white high school for the first time. The time period in the story was when there was segregation in America, between Blacks and Whites. This took place immediately after the Brown Vs. Board of education case, which allowed African American children to go to the same school as White children. The main character, Melba was just an ordinary African American girl until one day, the school offered the students to go to an all-White high school the next year.
When somebody does something bad or illegal, there are consequences; Whether it results in karma, punishments, or even a jail sentence, these consequences are solely based upon our actions, or, at least we would hope. In the book Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals, we learn that our actions do have repercussions, but we also learn that those of which we receive can be unjust and biased. The memoir follows the true story of Pattillo Beals, one of the nine original black students to integrate into Little Rock Central High School, in 1957 Arkansas. Throughout her journey, she and her fellow colored peers receive relentless hate and unjust treatment from both students and school staff. Minnijean is Melba's closest friend in the group.
Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattilo Beals is a memoir about Beals experiences and her journey while integrating Little Rocks Central High School. She wanted to share her story about what it was like to grow up in the middle of the civil rights movement and what it was like to be one of the nine students who were the first African Americans to integrate a public all white school. During and after reading the book a few thoughts went through my head. First, was my reaction at the horrific things that were done to Melba by integrationist in Central High. For example, while in the bathroom stall a group of girls locked her in and began dumping paper that was light on fire onto her.
Ruby Bridges was the only African American first grader who entered William Frantz Elementary School, which the New Orleans school district was ordered by a federal judge to begin complying with the desegregation ruling after various legal challenges. Four marshals were instructed to escort Ruby and her mother to school to avoid any deviant behavior used toward them. They were encountered with shouting of racial slurs and threats from the parents whose children attended the school because they did not agree with the integration of New Orleans schools. Ruby could not participate in recess with the other students or eat in the cafeteria because it was too dangerous. The crowds continued to surround the school every morning to assault and harass her.
Imagine getting up everyday before high school and preparing for war. For Melba Pattillo Beals this fear was a scary reality. In the beginning of “Warriors Don 't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock 's Central High” by Melba Pattillo Beals, she begins talking about what it’s like to come back to the haunted racist halls of Little Rock Central High School. This was a time when civil rights was a major issue and the color separation between white and black was about to be broken. Melba and nine other students entered Central High School becoming the first African American students to go to an all white school.
Turning Points are often when something unexpected or something you can’t control happens in your life. The texts that concluded this idea was the Autobiography “ Warriors Don’t Cry’’ by Melba Pattillo Beals, the poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, and the Drama excerpt “Dragonwings”by Lawrence Yep. Melba Pattillo Beals, The Main Character of The Road Not Taken, and Moonshadow all faced life changing experiences, that changed a big part of their lives. “Warriors Don’t Cry’’ by Melba Pattillo Beals is an Autobiography about how Melba Pattillo Beals was being escorted to go to school by fifty uniformed soldiers because of the color of her skin. The Turning Point that Melba faced, was when she was walking up the steps into Central High school were angry segregationist mobs had forbidden her and other students to go.
In the book Warriors Don 't Cry, Melba and her friends integrate into Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Melba and her friends experiences troubles as she tries to survive integration. Beals reveals a lot of things that would gives hint to things that we see ahead. The book mainly focuses on the south, light has been shed on events in the north around the same time when the Little Rock Nine (Bars) integrated. This essay will make inferences that show how people in the southern schools will continue to be ruthless and slow acceptance for the nine and for the north schools how whites will except African-Americans more.
No matter what obstacles you face in life you should always strive to reach your goal. Determination is something everyone should keep in mind of, and without determination one will not succeed. In Warriors Don’t Cry the main character Melba Patillo Beals tends to strive for her goal. With the NAACP the little rock nine includes Melba and eight other black high school students were sent to Central High School to integrate and Melba was determined to go through with integration. Melba reveals many of her characteristics also as many events she had to face every day by herself.
African American children, especially those with disabilities, provide an easy outlet for the police and campus security to act upon their white supremacist beliefs. In the case of Madisyn Wordlow, she was punished based on the security guard’s idea that he was “teaching her a f------ lesson” (qtd in Boroff). She had not actually stolen a piece of candy, but that did not matter to the guard. From his perspective, this was the perfect opportunity to humiliate and degrade an African American girl. He went on a power trip and belittled a child for their skin color, turning accusations about stealing a piece of candy into an event that scarred Wordlow for life.
Linda lived within walking distance to a school, but because of segregation laws, the little girl had to be bussed to a school further away. In anguish, Linda`s father decided to sue the school board, in which the case eventually made it to the Supreme Court, and after two years, the court ruled for desegregation in public schools (“Vox”). However, this court ruling took many years to enforce because of white violence, particularly in the South. Many blacks envisioned the court ruling in anticipation; ameliorating the vigor for the rest of the Civil Rights Movement. Within the following year, peaceful protests began for equality among blacks and whites.
“It was historic, it was dramatic-and for weeks on end, it was profoundly ugly” (Life). When Governor Orville Faubus heard about the integration he went against the federal government and sent in the Arkansas National Guard to stop the nine students from entering the school (Life). Angry white mobs also gathered outside the school, making it impossible for the students to enter (Williams). This event was broadcasted across the nation and even the world. This was the first crucial test for the implementation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown vs. Board of Education decision which declared that segregation is unconstitutional (50 Years).
When the Board of Education allowed for schools to integrate color students to an all white school, some of them did not want the students to be allowed to enter. Central High School called the National Guard to forbid the Little Rock nine to enter. Off campus you were able to see the white students waiting for the nine students to enter. The white student began to protest for them to leave and screamed that they will never integrate with them. The white student did not see themselves equal as the color students.
