Warriors Don't Cry

“At the time, I had no idea of the impact or importance of our successful entry and very difficult year as students inside Central High. It would turn out that our determination to remain in school, despite having to tread through a jungle of hatred and human torture from segregationists, would help to change the course of history and grant access to equality and opportunity for people of color.”

The Little Rock Nine’s successful completion of a year at Central High, with the graduation of one of the Black students at the end of the year, was a unique milestone in the Civil Rights movement. Although national and international organizations recognized and honored their achievements, Melba's chronicle reveals the true magnitude of what they endured and accomplished. That the Black students were willing to return to Central High and that the governor of Arkansas closed Little Rock high schools to prevent it demonstrates the resolve of the young people intent on achieving integration and the ultimate impotence of those trying to prevent it.

“With the passage of time, I became increasingly aware of how all the adults around me were living with constant fear and apprehension. It felt as though we always had a white foot pressed against the back of our necks. I was feeling more and more vulnerable as I watched them continually struggle to solve the mystery of what white folks expected of them. They behaved as though it were an awful sin to overlook even one of those unspoken rules and step out of their place to cross some invisible line.”

Melba writes that, from the age of four, she began to question her elders about the racial inequities she experienced. Though not yet 10 years old, she recognized that the adults around her lived in a constant state of vigilance and anxiety. There were unwritten rules to which Black citizens knew they must adhere. Melba recognized this capricious injustice long before she faced it head-on at Central High.

“I didn’t agree with the radio announcers who described Little Rock as a nice, clean Southern town, a place where my people and whites got along peacefully. City officials boasted there hadn’t been a Klan hanging of one of our people in at least ten years.”

Melba’s paraphrasing of a radio announcer’s description of Little Rock captures the irony of the contrasting Black and white visions of the community. Melba knew Black citizens felt the need to remain perpetually vigilant and cautious.