For this week's TOW, the most powerful and gruesome experiences of Melba Pattillo Beals are shared in her book Warriors Don't Cry. During the late 1950's, Melba expresses her days wanting to attend the same school as the white people and to also be treated respectfully by them. This story goes through the harsh times when she was taunted with verbal assault which she responded with courage and bravery while being integrated into Little Rock's Central High School. It all started when Melba innocently decided to sign a paper that would possibly volunteer her for the integration. After signing the paper, within the span of two years, the Brown vs Board of Education court case was set in stone, allowing integration to begin in all white high schools and declared Melba to be volunteered with eight other individuals to start integrating. What Melba believed to be the best school, Little Rock Central High did not turn out to her as she thought it would be. After trying to attend the school, was relentlessly mobbed, grabbed, slapped, punched, and almost raped, it isn't until September 20, 1957 when Melba and the other eight other students begin their classes. It is now September 20, 2015 as I am writing this TOW. To be able to read this book during the same time period, me also being a minority, it creates an inside to a life that I truly never experience. Knowing Melba's friends, that hadn't volunteered, just watched at a distance as she was beaten and cursed at, made me realize how helpless she had felt. This was all done by her first person perspective in her writing. The historical significance of all of the events with the detailed descriptions of everything she went through is something that is unforgettable. Knowing that she was helpless and by herself at some points, it's important that she shared her story to others who were not aware of the situation she was in.
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