Discussion Topic
Motivations behind Melba's decision to integrate Central High School in "Warriors Don't Cry"
Summary:
Melba's decision to integrate Central High School in Warriors Don't Cry is motivated by her desire for equal educational opportunities and to challenge the systemic racism of the time. She is driven by a sense of justice and the hope that her actions will contribute to a more equitable society for future generations.
Why did Melba volunteer to integrate Central High School in "Warriors Don't Cry"?
Warriors Don’t Cry is the true story of Melba Pattillo Beals and her journey to help integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1955. She volunteers, without consulting her family, when she realizes that she and her peers are not getting the same education as her white peers. Her school is always cold in the winter, and her books are always worn and torn. Meanwhile, across town, the white students do not have to deal with the same issues.
Melba believes that going to Central will give her the education she deserves. She also hopes that by helping to integrate the district’s schools, she will be taking the first step in making Little Rock like Cincinnati. She believes that if the schools were integrated, the two races would learn more about one another and be able to live together. She wants whites to realize they are wrong about her people and knows that if they are living and working together, they will learn about her and her culture.
Melba doesn’t tell her parents, and as she hears stories about protests against integration she doesn’t think anything will come of it, but, as we learn, she is selected as one of the nine to attend Central High School, making it an integrated school.
What prompts Melba to volunteer to attend Central High in "Warriors Don't Cry"?
When Melba puts her name down for Central High, she's not just thinking of herself; she's thinking of her people. As an intelligent, hard-working student, Melba knows that her educational needs will be much better catered for here than elsewhere. At the same time, Melba's aware of the bigger picture. She's under no illusions as to the scale of the struggle ahead; she knows that the white supremacist authorities will fight tooth and nail to keep Arkansas' public schools segregated. But she figures that if she can gain admittance to Central High, then that might open the door to all kinds of opportunities previously denied to her.
Melba has grown up in a society in which all aspects of life are strictly segregated on racial lines. Public facilities such as lunch-counters, buses, even water-fountains are all segregated, keeping the races apart and the white race in a position of domination. And a segregated public school system reinforces white control and the continued subjugation of African-Americans. If that system is to be broken, then pioneers like Melba will need to take a brave stand to break down the barriers that hold them back. Signing up for Central High is the first step on this long, hard journey.
Melba Patillo Beals, who is the author of the book, tells us straight out why she raised her hand when the teacher asked who wanted to attend Central High.
She says she did not think that the school would ever really be integrated. She thought it would take a miracle to do that.
But she says that she also thought that if the school could be integrated, then African Americans in Little Rock would have more of a chance to integrate other aspects of life in the city. She thought that she might get to sit on the first floor at the movies or go to shows at the Robinson Auditorium.
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