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Title details for Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals - Available

Warriors Don't Cry

A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High

by Melba Pattillo Beals
Lisa Reneé Pitts
Audiobook
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The landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling, Brown v. Board of Education, brought the promise of integration to Little Rock, Arkansas, but it was hard-won for the nine black teenagers chosen to integrate Central High School in 1957. They ran a gauntlet flanked by a rampaging mob and a heavily armed Arkansas National Guard—opposition so intense that soldiers from the elite 101st Airborne Division were called in to restore order. For Melba Beals and her eight friends those steps marked their transformation into reluctant warriors—on a battlefield that helped shape the civil rights movement.
Warriors Don't Cry, drawn from Melba Beals's personal diaries, is a riveting true account of her junior year at Central High—one filled with telephone threats, brigades of attacking mothers, rogue police, fireball and acid-throwing attacks, economic blackmail, and, finally, a price upon Melba's head. With the help of her English-teacher mother; her eight fellow warriors; and her gun-toting, Bible-and-Shakespeare-loving grandmother, Melba survived. And, incredibly, from a year that would hold no sweet-sixteen parties or school plays, Melba Beals emerged with indestructible faith, courage, strength, and hope.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    November 14, 2011

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781452624945
      • File size: 364697 KB
      • Duration: 12:39:47

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 30, 1994
      One of the nine black teenagers who integrated Little Rock's Central High School in 1957 here recounts that traumatic year with drama and detail. Beals, who is now a communications consultant, relies on her own diary from that era and notes made by her English teacher mother--as well as dubiously recreated dialogue--to tell not only of the ugly harassment she was subjected to but also of the impressive dignity of a 15-year-old forced to grow up fast. Arkansas governor Orval Faubus set the tone of the time by resisting integration until a federal judge ordered it. Although Beals was assigned a federal soldier for protection, the young integrationist was still attacked and prevented from engaging in school activities. She recalls stalwart black friends like Minniejean, who was suspended, and a white classmate who surreptitiously kept her informed of the segregationists' tactics. Beals looks back on her Little Rock experiences as ``ultimately a positive force'' that shaped her life. ``The task that remains,'' she concludes, ``is to cope with our interdependence.'' Photos not seen by PW. Author tour.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 30, 1995
      The author was one of nine black teenagers who in 1957 integrated their high school despite violent retaliation.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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