Warriors Don’t Cry

In the book Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals, the period of desegregation in the south was one of the toughest times in history. Melba was a young girl who had to witness this terrible experience which is vividly described throughout the book. The brown versus the Board of Education is the center of this great novel. The Supreme Court started the Brown versus Board of Education case in Little Rock Arkansas which segregated nine kids from a black school to Central high school. This brought about so many emotions and discrepancies between Colored people and White people. This case played a fundamental part in the changing of history. It stated that “schools could no longer deny admission to a child based solely on the color of their skin.”

How could one be contented living in a society where they are looked down upon? Melba had to face this in school. Teachers looked down upon her and other colored people and felt that they were inferior to white students. Finally, a plan was proposed. It stated that during the 1957 to 1958 school year, the senior high school would be integrated or put together. Then after the junior high would be integrated and lastly elementary schools. Seventeen black students out of hundreds of blacks were chosen to begin the integration process. Amongst them was Melba. The town went into uproar. Acts of violence were committed towards African- Americans and racism seemed to be on the rise more than ever before. Most of the black students chose to stay at Horace Mann in fear of being attacked but a few of the brave ones defied society and chose to be desegregated.

On the first day of desegregation, the governor of Arkansas sent the National Guardsmen to go around the school and keep African-Americans from getting in. The black students didn’t make it to school that day. The following day before even reaching the door steps of the school, the black students were spat upon, mocked, and had sharp objects thrown at them. Some were even physically beaten. Melba describes the feelings of hurt when she saw how cruel racism can really be. On the next day, the students met with Daisy Bates, the head of the regional NAACP and decided to walk into school together.

The author goes on to describe discrimination during that time period and the emotional scars it left on black people. For years blacks had suffered the humiliation of being slaves and from slaves to being subhuman in society. White people did not want to be associated with black people because they had the misconception that all black people were in gangs and committed crimes. That is a huge generalization. If that is how someone views a black person then why would a Negro have the drive to become something more in life?

Melba recalls an incident in church with an elderly woman yelling at her saying that she is too mighty for the black people. The woman told her that she is causing the black community pain and suffering. Melba suffers mockery on a daily bases from the white people and when she goes to her own people she gets criticized as well. Her faith in God was her true hope when everything else failed her and she felt like giving