Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Patillo Beals is a moving collection of memoirs that were taken from Melba's diary during her childhood years and through her rough times being a solider for .
her people as she and eight other black students endured incredible amounts of hatred and racism while integrating Central High School. Melba's descriptive accounts of her year at Central gives the reader a good grasp on the strong opposition to the mixing of blacks and whites in all aspects of society. At the time, segregation of bathrooms, schools, restaurants, and many other shops were still being enforced by the majority of the population. The police would look the other way as blacks were preyed against by white mobs. Certain points of the book that stick with me include Melba's first day of school, the drive-by shooting of their house, and the loosing of her past as she became a warrior in a battlefield known as Central High School .
Melba's first day of school took me by surprise because I thought that she would be protected by the national guard, but instead she was left exposed to the tenacious crowd that denied the nine into the school and broke the confidence of Elizabeth on the first day. After that first day, I felt that Melba had lost a part of herself. Her transformation from innocent young woman to warrior was quite abrupt. .
The drive-by shooting of Melba's house hit hard with the whole family, because the constant threats that came in on the phones and media had finally left a physical mark on the family. The danger and risks that Melba's household suffered under was realized that night. The danger was to be there for the rest of the year, and the uneasy feeling would fade but never fully disappear.
Over the course of the book, Melba loses a part of herself, and also her past. Before the news of Melba being chosen as one of the Little Rock nine, she had aspirations to do all of the things other high school kids like to do: Going to sporting events, attend parties with friends, participate in school functions, and make new friendships.
Title- Warriors Don't Cry Author- Melba Pattillo Bates Historical Event Depicted -The integration that took place in Little Rock Main Characters- 1. Melba Pattillo- the author and narrator of the book; She was 15 when the integration took place 2. Lois Peyton(mother Lois )- Melbas mother, who...
