Melba Beals The Little Rock Nine
The Bravery of the Little Rock Nine “It was” she said “the longest block I ever walked in my whole life.” The Little Rock Nine, used continued effort to achieve difficulties they faced. They had a strong feeling about something they wanted to do, and they accomplished this by not giving up and pushing forward. The Nine students used perseverance, passion, and bravery to become the first black students to go to an all-white school in 1957.
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.
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.
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.
Tyna L. Steptoe’s book, Houston Bound: Culture and Color in a Jim Crow City explores the significance of Wheatley High School, a public secondary school located in the heart of Fifth Ward, Houston, Texas, established in the 1930s to serve black and Creole students during the Jim Crow era. Despite being segregated, the students at Wheatley did not let this hold them down and instead made the best of the situation by getting heavily involved in their school. Wheatley High School gave their black and creole students tools for advancement and helped strengthen their cultural identity and in a historic period in which racial discrimination attempted to curtail their political and economic potential. In this Jim Crow era, the institutions of the city were divided by the racial categories of white and black, which would force everyone into one or the other category, even if they did not necessarily associate themselves with it. Accordingly, racially ambiguous people would either receive the benefits that accompanied the white label or the grim treatment that accompanied the black label.
during this story it shows a young black lady that awaits with pride and anticipation her graduation day. once the day finally arrives, her dreams and expectations are shattered by the speech that Mr.Donleavy, a White, gave to the year of 1940. He was direct in causing the message of the graduate’s slim probabilities of getting a rigorous career that wasn't athletic . Maya Angelou declared that “It was brutal to be young and already trained to take a seat quietly and hear charges against my color with no likelihood of defense.” Donleavy gets the graduates to assume and have doubts.
Mamie specifically wrote this book to tell her son’s story, representing hope and forgiveness, which revealed the sinister and illegal punishments of the south. She wanted to prevent this horrendous tragedy from happening to others. The purpose of the book was to describe the torment African Americans faced in the era of Jim Crow. It gives imagery through the perspective of a mother who faced hurt, but brought unity to the public, to stand up for the rights of equal treatment. This book tells how one event was part of the elimination of racial segregation.
I really enjoyed reading this book, because it adds on to your knowledge of segregation and tells you what an average black family had to go threw from the 1880’s to the middle of the 1950’s. The Claudette Colvin story inspires me and many other people to stand up for what is right, even if there might be some consequences.
Imagine this: you are living in a discriminatory world full of people who do not understand you, and choose to judge you by your differences instead of getting to know you. If you are even the slightest bit different. The slightest distance from ordinary, you are judged. You do not get to fight for them to know you, because as soon as they place stereotypes on you. They decide who you are supposed to be.
Little Rock Nine “They found themselves in the middle of a tug a war between federal and state power”(Kirk). The students hunger for equality sparked a change that would affect America greatly. Little Rock Nine inspired many African Americans to stand up for themselves and stand against racism. They also helped desegregate schools which later lead to the desegregation of other public areas. Little Rock Nine was an inspiration to the 1960’s as seen through their background, impact, and contributions.
The author shares his childhood story of racial prejudices, economic differences, and bullying within the elementary school setting. Taking the lead from the author, we should teach our children at an early age to accept people regardless of race, or economic status, focusing less on our differences, and more on our similarities, and not persecute them despite these differences. Tabias said his best friend practically abandoned him just because he was hanging out with a white boy. In a predominantly black school he stuck by the boy when no one else would.
This week, the readings point the spotlight at the some of the depressing hardships that the African-American population frequently experience. In “Naughty by Nature”, Ann Ferguson covers the different perceptions that society has of colored boys. David Knight’s work “Don’t tell young black males that they are endangered” seeks to explain the differents outcomes of African-American youth that arise when society constantly oppresses them. The last article by Carla O’Connor, “The Culture of Black Femininity and School Success”, focuses on the image of African-American woman that is created as a result of them attempting to preserve in a system that opposes them.
Civil rights, political and social freedom and equality, something many African Americans had to fight for. There were boycotts, sit-ins, teach-ins, freedom riders and many other events where people took a stand and stood their ground, but the one that really caught the attention of others was the Little Rock Nine. All the different situations where people were fighting against Jim Crow Laws started with something that was most likely over equality. These students were all about fighting for an equal education, and believed they should be taught in the same room, with the same lessons, and with the same teachers as any other white student.
The real world can be a pain, but it can also be one of our most important learning resources by teaching us beneficial lessons that a normal school education does not. Jem and Scout slowly recognize this as they grow up on the racist streets of Alabama in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. Atticus, Jem and Scout’s father, is a white lawyer defending a black man during the great depression of the 1930s. As Jem and Scout witness the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of rape, and the everyday events of Maycomb they start to understand a little bit more about ‘Maycomb 's usual disease’. Real life events, and activities provide Jem and Scout with the valuable lessons they would never have the chance to learn in school.
In order to change history, people must learn from their mistakes. Segregation in North America has been a big issue in North America that unfortunately still happens in the world today, however, it is not as bad as it once was. In the poem “History Lesson” by Natasha Trethewey, the author uses mood, symbolism and imagery to describe the racial segregation coloured people faced in the past compared to more recent times, where equality is improved and celebrated. The author uses language and setting to influence the mood and meaning of the poem.
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