Last week, I wrote about Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s WELL-BEHAVED WOMEN SELDOM MAKE HISTORY. This week, I want to share the story of Melba Patillo Beals, a woman who was forced to be well-behaved and yet definitely made history. Ms. Beals was born in Little Rock Arkansas. She was in junior high when the Supreme Court decided Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. In September of 1957, Ms. Beals was part of a group of black students who were chosen to integrate Little Rock High School. The group of nine students came to be known as the “Little Rock Nine.”
There was such resistance in Little Rock, Arkansas to the integration of the high school that the neighbors and extended relatives of those who were to be the first black students to integrate the school suffered. There were originally seventeen students who were to integrate the school and yet eight of them dropped out and remained at their segregated high school instead as their parents were threatened with losing their jobs. There was widespread violence. Governor Faubus was so against integration being forced upon the state that he called on the National Guard to block students from entering the school. President Eisenhower sent members of the 101st Airborne Division to serve as personal bodyguards to the black students as they proceeded to overrule the actions of the governor through the school year. Tensions in the town ran high and even reporters were subject to violence as they tried to cover the story.
In her memoir of this momentous, historic event, WARRIORS DON’T CRY (Simon Pulse, 2007), Ms. Beals draws her strength to persevere from her religion as instilled in her by her grandmother, India. All of the students suffered unimaginably horrible threats and actual physical violence. Ms. Beals was burned with acid that was tossed in her face. She stood up to immense odds to complete the school year and then left the area to finish high school in California. Today, she teaches journalism in California and is a public speaker.
I share this story on the heels of the Ulrich text since WARRIORS DON’T CRY is a great reminder of what an individual can do to make a difference, to make history. When individuals stand up for themselves, as Ms. Beals did by seeking access to education guaranteed by the Constitution, history is made. What makes this memoir unique is that it shares the story as Ms. Beals looks back on her experience with some of the other students during a reunion held on the fortieth anniversary. She tells her tale within the context of her later life and reflects upon her experiences and how they shaped her decisions and relationships.
This text would be an appropriate addition to any feminist reading list as a representation of a woman, especially a woman of color, making history. While Ms. Beals does not necessarily write from a feminist perspective, her life as it has been lived is an example of the quiet ways in which one might stand up for what is right. The most amazing part of it is that she was forced to be as “well-behaved” as possible in order to get into and continue as a student at Little Rock High School. Any trouble perceived as being from her would have given the school a reason to expel her. She had to be as stoic as the soldiers guarding her and her classmates. It is interesting that her “good behavior” is what allowed her to be a part of this historical event and also what helped her get through the horrors of it.
First published: http://www.hercircleezine.com/2011/10/20/warriors-dont-cry/
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