Warriors Don't Cry

by Melba Pattillo Beals

Easton Press MELBA PATTILLO Warriors Don't Cry, a Signed Edition Personally signed by Melba Pattillo Beals... In 1957, Melba Pattillo Beals and eight other teenagers became iconic symbols for the Civil Rights Movement as they integrated Little Rock’s Central High School. This powerful book tells the story in her own words. This Easton Press exclusive edition features premium leather binding, a hubbed spine accented with true 22kt gold, gilded page ends, moiré endsheets, and a satin bookmark to conveniently mark your place. 6” x 9”, 336pp SIGNED EDITION Factory Sealed - Shrink Wrapped

Library Binding

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Melba Pattillo Beals made history as a member of the Little Rock Nine, the nine African-American students involved in the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The world watched as they braved constant intimidation and threats from those who opposed desegregation of the formerly all-white high school. She later recounted this harrowing year in her book titled Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Desegregate Little Rock’s Central High School.

Melba Pattillo was born on December 7, 1941, in Little Rock (Pulaski County). Beals grew up surrounded by family members who knew the importance of an education. Her mother, Lois Marie Pattillo, PhD, was one of the first black graduates of the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County) in 1954 and was a high school English teacher at the time of the crisis. Her father, Howell Pattillo, worked for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. She had one brother, Conrad, who served as a U.S. marshal in Little Rock, and they all lived with her grandmother, India Peyton.

While attending all-black Horace Mann High School in Little Rock, she knew her educational opportunities were not equal to her white counterparts’ opportunities at Central High. In response to this inequality, Pattillo volunteered to transfer to the all-white Central High School with eight other black students from Horace Mann and Dunbar Junior High School. The Little Rock Nine, as they came to be known, faced daily harassment from white students. Beals later recounted that the soldier assigned to protect her instructed her, “In order to get through this year, you will have to become a soldier. Never let your enemy know what you are feeling.” Beals took the soldier’s advice, and, while the rest of the school year remained turbulent, all but one student, Minnijean Brown, was able to finish the school year. Barred from entering Central High the next year when the city’s schools were closed, Pattillo moved to Santa Rosa, California, to live with a sponsoring family who were members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for her senior year of high school.

In 1961, Pattillo married John Beals. They had one daughter but divorced after ten years of marriage. She subsequently adopted two boys.

Beals graduated from San Francisco State University with a BA in journalism and earned an MA in the same field from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York. She has worked as a communications consultant, a motivational speaker, and as a reporter for San Francisco’s public television station and for the Bay Area’s NBC affiliate.

Beals was the first of the Little Rock Nine to write a book based on her experiences at Central High. Published in 1994, Warriors Don’t Cry gives a first-hand account of the trials Beals encountered from segregationists and racist students. The book was named the American Library Association (ALA) Notable Book for 1995 and won the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award that same year. White is a State of Mind, her 1999 sequel to Warriors Don’t Cry, follows Beals from her senior year in high school to her college and family days in California.

Beals was awarded the prestigious Spingarn Medal by the NAACP in 1958, along with other members of the Little Rock Nine and Daisy Bates, their mentor. In 1999, President Bill Clinton presented the nation’s highest civilian award, the Congressional Gold Medal, to the members of the Little Rock Nine. As of 2010, Beals lives in the San Francisco area and works as an author and public speaker.

Reviews

[Cassidy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read this a few times (I teach it to my sophomores) and every time I catch something new. Beals is an incredible woman, writer, and storyteller. She tells of her experience as a black girl integrating into Central High in Little Rock in a way that captivates an audience. I love reading her story and even more so I love sharing it with my students.

[Natalie Perez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolute must read for someone who's greatly interested in history and the true events in correlation to racism and segregation in the southern states. Warriors Don't Cry is about Melba's experience as one of the little rock nine, her story and point of view of being one of the students struggling and fighting for integration. Melba faced many challenges while being so young, she goes through a lot of violence and threats due to the political opposition. I was heavily hooked on learning about her journey because there are many events I would've never expected and are truly disappointing yo hear about, I couldn't believe that these were real life events and people actually allowed these behaviors to continue for so long. I loved to hear about Melba's memoir and get a great understanding of who she was and is as a person; its personal and we get to view and hear about lots of stuff we wouldn't have truly known went on behind the event. What I liked best about the book would be the representation in lessons and themes; faith and courage especially, and learning to never judge others without getting to truly know them and their reasoning for choosing to do an action. In all honesty many feelings overcame me when reading this book. I felt sympathy, sadness, anger, and happiness all in one. I felt like this book was able to capture how well others relate to it including myself despite the different scenarios and challenges. I felt this way because I personally love to learn about historical events and become more informed about laws, rulings and the paths to equality which are all included in this book. I loved the inclusion of the photos and pieces from her own diary since it added to the narrative of being in her shoes, realizing she was once just a kid dealing with a heavy weight when normal teenagers during that time were worried about different things rather than having to face hate from others and people trying to stop the students from having an equal education. Once I began to read this book I was so interested I could not put it down and wondered what would happen next after all the ups and downs. Overall its an amazing book and would recommend others to definitely read!

[Alexa Ochoa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warriors Don't cry by Melba Pattillo Beals, was my first ever book reading about segregation. I liked the book a lot, I found it very interesting. I felt this way because the author herself, explained her teenage life very well and talked briefly about the segregation that happened back then because of Jim Crows laws. That got me hooked on actually being interested, at first when I was reading it, I felt the book kinda boring because I have trouble finding books that actually interest me but this book really got me hooked because of these intense moments happening through Melba life that can really get you thinking about this teenagers life back when she was in High School and into the history before segregation was illegal, so I would say overall, I liked this book. I give this book a 4 star rating, only because the ending was good but felt rushed but I will not say why it felt rushed as I don't want to spoil it for those who have not read the book yet. I would recommend this book to someone who loves learning about old history or history in general, loves autobiography and non fiction memoir. Two things to take away from Warriors Don't Cry is resilience and courage. Melba demonstrates in some parts in the book her fighting back for what she thinks is right. She shows what being a warrior means. Regardless when she was going through violence, threats, and emotional trauma, she still was fighting for her life and never back down from that. Support from her family gave the strength she needed but most especially her Grandmother India gave her that support and strength. She was the one who made pushed Melba into that warrior she eventually became later on in life. Without spoiling the book, I would say Warriors Don't Cry is about a teenage girl who is living in a life, where segregation wasn't a illegal law yet back in the 90's, she goes to a school called Central High, where her normal life of being a teenager, started going downhill, where she faces daily threats, violence, racism, and emotional abuse from students at school.

[Cyra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read this for my high school class at first my interest wasn’t really interested and I’ll be honest I had to follow along with an audiobook and reread parts with the audiobook. I knew the topic was very serious but at the beginning I was just not interested as the book went on some where in between I was able to gain a bit of interest I respect Melba so much for all she went through that impacted history and how everything is today
P.s I love Danny (one of my favorite people I’ve ever read about (even if it wasn’t his story))