Integration concepts and applications

¶ … Warriors don't cry: A searing memoir of the battle to integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals. Specifically it will discuss the thesis, themes, and ideas of the book, and include a critique. This book is much more than a memoir; it is an account of hatred and bitterness in American history that should never be forgotten. It should be a must read for any American student, to find out just how important an integrated education was to those who were banned from it. Today we take this type of education for granted, but in 1957, these nine students had to fight hard to achieve it.

There are several themes and ideas in this work. First, the author shows that these warriors have survived and thrived since their years at Little Rock's Central High. She shows how the experience brought them together and made such a difference in their lives. In the Introduction she notes, "Our relationships with one another and the joy of our camaraderie have not changed" (Beals, 1994, p. xxi). That of course is not the only theme of the book. While the joy of closely forged relationships is an important aspect of the students' survival, it is only one theme the author uses in the book. Another theme is how the nine students suffered during their ordeal. It graphically shows the lengths some of the whites would go to in order to drive them out of Central High. Beals writes in the first chapter, "Segregationists mounted a brutal campaign against us, both inside and outside of school" (Beals, 1994, p. 2). Her book's main theme is to show the cruelty and hatred of prejudice, and just how cruel and inhuman hatred can make some people.

Another idea or theme of the book shows how blacks lived in Little Rock in the 1950s, and the many indignities they had to face on a daily basis. Beals notes she was afraid of white people, and shows many instances of prejudice throughout the book, from a merry-go-round she could not ride to the restaurants, restrooms, and water fountains that were only for "white folks," overcharging at stores, and numerous other insults that blacks took because they had to. By showing these little items that all add up to misunderstandings, hatred, and oppression, she shows how hard it was to be a black American, and why African-Americans were struggling so hard to win their freedom and their civil rights. After reading this book their reasons become much more clear and compelling.

The author's teenaged diary entries are another important theme in this book. They indicate just how she was feeling at the time, and what events triggered her anger, fears, and frustrations. In one entry she writes, "Today is the first time in my life I felt equal to white people. I want more of that feeling. I'll do whatever I have to do to keep feeling equal all the time" (Beals, 1994, p. 90). This makes her experience real for the reader, and very moving. That is another important aspect of the book and how the author writes it. The reader feels the pain these black students felt, and so they become more sympathetic to their cause and their devotion to equality.

The author's thesis of this book is clear. Not all warriors fight on the traditional battlefield, and this book proves it. Beals and her fellow students were warriors on their own, cast adrift in a white world that did not want them. They forged the way for others to follow and not have to suffer the same things they did. That is the reason she chose the title she did for her book. She wanted to show the battles these young people had to fight, and how these battles affected the rest of their lives. In showing how these students fought so hard to attain their goals, she also paints a graphic picture of prejudice at the time; showing what black people had to put up with just as a part of daily life. In the Introduction she writes, "But, because we dared to challenge the Southern tradition of segregation, this school became, instead, a furnace that consumed our youth and forged us into reluctant warriors" (Beals, 1994, p. xx). Thus, she sets up her thesis early, illustrating the battles these "reluctant warriors" had to face. She clearly shows how the school indeed "forged" them into stronger people able to cope with the prejudice and hatred that swirled around them as they simply attempted to complete their education.