Warriors Don’t Cry, is the story of Melba Pattillo Beals, a 15 year old girl who was among the first 9 black children to integrate Central Little Rock high school after the Brown Vs.
Board of Education court case ruled that Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas would be integrated in 1954. Warriors Don’t Cry was written by Melba Pattillo Beals herself, describes her struggles and experiences of not just her year at Central High but also her entire life. Melba being only 15 was the youngest out of the Little Rock nine, had to spend the majority of her teenage years dealing with the abuse of her white classmates. Melba is the eldest child of her parents Lois and William Pattillo. She was born with a scalp infection which cause some very serious complications
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Growing up Beals had to deal with the very strict laws separating the blacks from the whites like seperate bathrooms, water fountains, and of course schools. Melba had to witness the horrible acts of brutality that whites forced upon blacks. One time when Beals was young she witnessed her father powerless as he watched a milk man sexually assault her mother. Lois, her mother fought threw the discrimination and got her mastering in education at
the University of Arkansas. Lois begged for Melba's father to go back to school but he refused to go threw that. Beals father left by the time she was 11 years old. Melba went thru a tough life even before she stepped up to the plate taking on Central High school, doing the thing her father would not, she paved the way for so many african american children to get not just a better education, but for them to have a better life. I admire how she never gave up, after everything that had happened from the moment she was born. Melba could have just quit but she persevered and made an amazing change. This 15 year old girl, who was deemed powerless by her community and classmates showed that even the smallest spark