Melba Pattillo Beals' Warriors Don't Cry
...kansas governor further inflamed the situation by calling in the National Guard to block their entry. President Eisenhower responded by dispatching the 101st Airborne Division to protect the Black teenagers. The consequence of all these actions was to turn Central High into an armed battlefield. Based on excerpts from her diary, Beals’ powerful and moving book relives the pain and fear of the worst year of her life. She and the other eight students were just like any other teenagers. They sought approval from their peers. But instead they were rejected and subjected to unbelievable physical and psychological punishments, which transformed them into "warriors who dared not cry even when we suffered intolerable pain." During these events, television clips mesmerized the nation as the students struggled to enter Central High. What the public failed to see was the horror and fear endured by the nine students after they finally entered the school. Despite the presence of armed soldiers, the Black students daily faced unrelenting abuse and degradation from the white students. Beals recounts name calling, punches, kicks, acid thrown into her eyes, threats to her family, knife cuts, and fire missiles tossed into her bathroom stall. There is no question that the courage of the Little Rock nine became the impetus for school integration throughout the south and indeed the nation. However, I question the motives behind adults who sent young people with little or no training, or preparation into a battlefield for racial equality. Ms. Beal believed "each moment, each hour, each day, that things would get better." Unfortunately, this never occurred because each day saw an escalation of hatred and bigotry. At the start of her second semester, she came to the indisputable realization that ...