Genre: Autobiography and Memoir
Length: 312 pages
Audiobook Length: 12 hours and 39 minutes
First Published: 1994
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Publisher’s Description
In 1957, well before Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Melba Pattillo Beals and eight other teenagers became iconic symbols for the Civil Rights Movement and the dismantling of Jim Crow in the American South as they integrated Little Rock’s Central High School in the wake of the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling, Brown v. Board of Education.
Throughout her harrowing ordeal, Melba was taunted by her schoolmates and their parents, threatened by a lynch mob’s rope, attacked with lighted sticks of dynamite, and injured by acid sprayed in her eyes. But through it all, she acted with dignity and courage, and refused to back down.
Warriors Don’t Cry is, at times, a difficult but necessary reminder of the valuable lessons we can learn from our nation’s past. It is a story of courage and the bravery of a handful of young, black students who used their voices to influence change during a turbulent time.
About Melba Pattillo Beals
Dr. Melba Pattillo Beals was one of the Little Rock Nine who first integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Her memoir, Warriors Don’t Cry, recalls the events of that period. In 1999, she was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. She went on to a successful career in journalism and public relations. She founded the Department of Communications and Media Studies and the Diversity Action Group at Domician University. Visit the author’s website →.