Warrior's Don't Cry

Press trade paperback printing February 1994. Washington

Square Press Publication of Pocket Books, a division of Simon& Schuster Inc. New York, NY.

Melba Pattillo Beals- A junior when she entered Central High School, Melba did a lot of growing up that year. With the Supreme Court overturning their decision, the same day of that decision, on her way home from school she was attacked and almost raped. She endured a lot of harassment that year. She got her heels stepped on between every class and was singed by the water when she tried to shower after gym class. She had all her clothes sprayed on by ink and she got her eyes sprayed with acid which caused her to have to wear glasses. That same year she lived through what was supposed to be the happiest time of a girls live. She got her first boyfriend and had her first date, but all she could ever think about was how she was going to make it through her next day. Although eventually she did happen to make a friend (Link) that helped her by telling her places to avoid, he could not be seen in public with her. That year Melba turned 16 and though that year she had nobody!

The era of the 1950’s was a time where African Americans were not allowed to use the same public facilities as whites. This book, Warrior’s Don’t Cry, takes place in this era. The doctrine of “separate but equal” facilities had just been overruled. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas just set a new precedent that would integrate schools on May 17, 1954. In the book you go through the time period in which those nine students were sent into Central High School not knowing what to expect and barely coming out of there alive. Their first year (1957-1958) in Central High School was a time for growing for those nine students. The book deals with all the problems the US had with the citizens accepting the civil right laws that were changing and what they had to do to make things work out. At the end, they give you a 30 year look back upon what impacts that year had on those nine individuals that gave away their teenage years of happiness to help the country deal with that problem.

Although I already knew how bad African Americans were treated during the period of adjustment, I just was not aware of the disregard the authorities that were hired to protect those individuals in danger had towards them. I also was not aware that even after President Eisenhower sent in the 101st Airborne Soldiers that they still had problems with keeping the students in the school. I was glad to see that one person (Link) was there to help her survive through the year but I was surprise to hear that it was just one person. I had come to believe that others would have come to their aid.

Some topics in this essay:
Airborne Soldiers, President Eisenhower, Central School, Supreme Court, Rock Nine, National Guards, African Americans, Grandma India, Mother Lois, Thelma Mothershed, central school, melba pattillo, mother lois, don’t cry, warriors don’t cry, nine students, african american, african americans, pattillo beals, warriors don’t, grandma india, melba pattillo beals, integrate central school, president eisenhower sent, washington square press,