Synopsis
The author reflects on her role in the 1957 integration of Little Rock Central High School. A 16-year-old girl at the time, the author was among the first nine black students to attend that school--a situation that brought out the best, and the worst, in her neighbors and fellow students. The integration of Central High School was, and continues to be, an important turning point in the American civil rights movement.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1995-02-01 | | Edition Description: | Reprint |
| Size | | Height: | 8.3 in | | Width: | 5.5 in | | Thickness: | 1.0 in | | Weight: | 10.4 oz |
Publisher's Note
Presents an account of Melba Beals's junior year at Central High in 1957, during which her family suffered threats, personal attacks, and even a murder attempt, and explains how they endured with faith, courage, strength, and love. Reprint.
Industry Reviews
The author was one of nine black teenagers who in 1957 integrated their high school despite violent retaliation. (Aug.)
Lopate
Gr 7 Up Beals, one of the nine black students who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, AR, in 1957, tells an incredible story of faith, family love, friendships, and strong personal commitment. Drawing from the diaries she kept, the author easily puts readers in her saddle oxfords as she struggles against those people in both the white and black communities who would have segregation continue. Her prose does not play on the sympathy of readers; it simply tells it like it happened. She shares the physical, mental, and emotional torture and abuse she suffered at the hands of teenagers and adults. She also shares the support, the encouragement, and the help she received from both whites and blacks. While the book's length may discourage younger readers, those who begin it will find the reading easy and fast. This abridgement of the author's 1994 adult title of the same name is fascinating as well as enlightening and honest. Valerie Childress, J.W. Holloway Middle School, Whitehouse, TX
Lopate
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