Review Of Melba Patillo Beals 'Warriors Don' T Cry

Turning points in life are often challenging times full of struggle and conflict. Throughout history people have made choices that impact not only their own lives, but also their country. This idea is explored in the memoir Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Patillo Beals, the autobiography I Never Had It Made by Jackie Robinson, and the article “The Father of Chinese Aviation” by Rebecca Maksel. Melba Patillo Beals, Jackie Robinson, and Feng Ru all faced crucial life-changing experiences, and in doing so, helped change their countries.

Melba Patillo Beals helped improve education for all African American students when she chose to be one of the first African American students to integrate at Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas. On the morning

In his autobiography, Robinson discussed some of the obstacles and difficulties he faced in this turning point in his life. Because he was black, Robinson was not immediately accepted by the team. He had to “live with snubs and rebuffs and rejections” (Robinson). However, this was minor compared to the resentment he experienced from “players on other teams, by the team owners, or by bigoted fans screaming ‘n-----.’” (Robinson). Like Beal, he faced threats of violence and “even out-and-out attempts at physical harm” (Robinson). He did, however, have some supporters. Despite the threats and the ugliness, African Americans came out to support Jackie in droves. They “came to sit in a hostile audience in unprecedented numbers to make the turnstiles hum as they never had before at ball parks all over the nation” (Robinson). Acceptance for Robinson increased as profits increased, and Jackie took his place as the first of many African American ball players. Robinson recognized that this was an important step for African Americans, saying he “was proud to be in the hurricane eye of a significant breakthrough and to be used to prove that a sport can’t be called national if blacks are barred from it” (Robinson). Robinson changed the face of major league baseball, and with it, the face of the

Feng Ru was an immigrant to the United States, and a self-taught engineer. As a young man, he was driven to “learn all he could about machines, working in shipyards, power plants, machine shops, anywhere he could acquire mechanical knowledge” (Maksel). Eventually, he became fascinated with the new field of aviation. He read and translated information about the Wright brothers, Glen Curtiss, and Henri Farman into Chinese. In 1906, he started his own “aircraft factory, building airplanes of his own design” (Maksel). It was not, however, easy. His workshop was little more than a shack, and testing new aircraft was dangerous. During a test flight, Feng lost control of the plane “which plunged into his workshop, setting it ablaze” (Maksel). This would not be his last crash. Ultimately, Feng Ru packed his designs and his airplane and took them back to his home country, China. He believed that “industrialization made a country great, and felt that industrialization could do that same for China” (Maksel). Though Feng Ru died in a crash in his homeland, he did not feel he died in vain. In fact, he used his dying breath to encourage his assistants to carry on his work because he recognized its importance to the country. To this day, he is heralded as the “father of Chinese aviation”