Summary:
In the book Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Patillo Beals, Melba and eight of her friends were blockaded from entering the white high school Central in Little Rock, Arkansas. In 1957 African Americans and Whites were not allowed to to go to school in unison. Instead, schools were segregated legally giving Whites a better education then Blacks. However, President Eisenhower chose to defend the civil rights of African Americans and shunned segregation. As an egalitarian, he emphatically believed Blacks and Whites deserved equal rights and opportunities. Even though Eisenhower and Clinton were great supporters, Governor Faubus fervently was against integration and ordered soldiers to prevent Melba and her eight friends from entering Central High. Melba was petrified for her life but endured through the gloating and the taunting of students with the chivalry of her inspirational grandmother India. Furthermore, Arkansas was a very racist state in the United States at the time. In particular, the Patillo Beals family went out Christmas shopping and Melba had to urgently use the restroom. Therefore, Melba fibbed saying she knew where the Colored bathroom was and impatiently ran into the White Ladies bathroom because she could not hold her bladder anymore. As a result, the white women inside the restroom scolded at the poor little girl and called the police on her. In other words, even the stalls in 1957 were segregated down South.
Quote :
A quote that portrays strongly Patillo Beal's style is,"If white adults were accompanied by children, those kids scowled or stuck their tongues out at us. Even worse, they'd sometimes say,'Mamma, look at that there nigger.' "(Beals 7).
In addition, Patillo's style of writing is very accurate and saturated with descriptive details. In other words, instead of Patillo just writing that White people mistreated her, she explains what they did to her and her family in full elaboration. Patillo also uses dialect in her writing, for her friends speak very different from her Grandmother India and Lois. As a conclusion, the quote portrays how the maltreatment and ignorance of certain people hindered the prosperity of many Blacks. If Melba were not as bold, she would have never made it through the threats, attacks, and outbursts she experienced everyday for her education. This quote is vital in exemplifying the morose treatment Melba and her eight friends overcame in Warriors Don't Cry. It also shows that not only grown ups instilled this loathe for Blacks but even children or the next generation detested people of color.
