Warriors Don't Cry

Growing up as a teenager, Melba Pattillo Beals had to fight one of the most

courageous wars in history. No, not a war that took place in the trenches of a

battlefield, but a war that took place in the halls of an American high

schoolÐ'--a war against color. Melba was one of nine black students who were

involved in one of the most important civil rights movements in American

history. These nine black students, known as the Little Rock Nine, were the

first to attend the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, on

September 4, 1957. This was a major turning point for blacks all across the

United States and opened the way for other blacks to begin attending white

schools. Melba managed to survive her days at Central High School and wrote

about her extraordinary "battles" and experiences in her autobiography,

Warriors Don't Cry. Melba began her story with her childhood in Little Rock,

Arkansas. She lived with her mother, grandma, and brother in a strict and

religious household. Her family had come to accept the fact that they would

always be mistreated because of their color. In the South this mistreatment of

blacks was seen as perfectly normal, but Melba saw things a little differently.

As a young girl, she experienced first hand how awful it was to be segregated

against and be constantly ridiculed simply because of her color. Unlike most

people, though, she wanted to do something about it and prayed for an

opportunity that would allow her to fight back and hopefully make a difference.

On May 17, 1954, Melba's opportunity began to emerge. The U.S. Supreme Court

ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional in Brown

vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. In spite of the Supreme Court ruling,

Arkansas did not begin to integrate its schools. Eventually, a federal court

ordered Central High School in Little Rock to begin admitting black students in

1957 in order to begin the state's process of desegregation. Melba saw this as

the perfect chance to make a difference in her hometown. She was one of nine

courageous students who decided to try to attend the all-white Central High

School. Although all the students knew it would not be easy to be the first

black students to integrate, it was a lot more strenuous and difficult than

anyone of them had imagined. On the first day that they tried to attend Central

High School, they didn't even get into the school. There were thousands of

people from all over the country outside the school that morning. Most were

anti-segregationists trying to prevent the nine students from entering. As the

nine students walked past the angry mob and tried to enter the school, they were

stopped and turned away by National Guardsmen who had been sent by Orval Faubus,

the governor of Arkansas. Two weeks later President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent

1,000 federal troops to Little Rock to uphold the Supreme Court's decision and

allow the desegregation of Central High. As the year progressed, the nine

students went through a great deal of suffering and torture, but all stayed

strong and kept attending, knowing they were making a difference in the lives of

blacks all across the country. Melba Beal's true account of the year she spent

at Central High is important reading for everyone. This was a war that had to be

fought for civil rights, and Beal's book shows the tremendous struggle and

suffering she and the eight other students went through. Beals portrays very

well the hatred and corruption