Melba was one of the little rock nine students. She was a colored person that went to an all white school during segregation. The school she went to is Central High. Melba struggled through school because of the segregationist. She lasts the whole year with out leaving, but how did she do it? She had to use strength to make it through the year and she had many help her. She would talk and write to god, she would talk to her grandma, she would use advice her 101st soldier gave her, but most of all she believed in herself. That is how Melba got through school. When I get scared or think that I can't do something I believe in myself. Just like Melba does wen she gets scared. Melba struggles with segregation and I struggle too, just maybe not …show more content…
It was time for grades to be do in all the classes. So, in every class I went to I did work I needed to do, except when there was a movie in that room. I tried to keep my focus on the work but I get distracted really easy. I usually turned in my work and I only had work to do in one class. I was missing four assignments in that class that was do, so when I got to that class we had option to go to a different class. Well, they were all playing movies except for one I didn't need to go to. One class had a movie I really wanted to finish and then the other rooms had movies that were good, except for the one I needed to go in. It had a movie that was about the book we were reading which I didn't really care for. It was the only class I needed to finish work in. I went to that class and the movie started. Once the movie started I knew I wasn't going to finish the assignments. I worked as hard as I could and tried not to get distracted. The closer it got to the end of class the better I felt about it and the more I believe in myself. By the end of the class I had gotten all my assignments done and I couldn't do it without my parents because they always push my to do my best and reward me if I do. And that was a time when I had to believe in
One of the earliest events that happened to Melba was the attack that happened in the bathroom. The event occurred near the start of her time in Central, when a group of boys attacked her and she had to be protected by Danny, and when she brought this up to the school board they pushed her away by stating “Well in order to do anything, we need an adult witness.” (Beals pg 108-109) This showed her that the school had no interest in protecting her, which made her start to stand up to protect herself. The second important event that occurred was when Danny left after a month of protecting her, which made her think “Warriors keep moving, they don't stop to lick their wounds and cry.” (Beals pg 128) This was an event that pushed Melba to overcome the problems that were occurring to her, and gave her, her first hero. All of the events that happened to Melba made her be able to stand up for her freedom in times where she was at her
As Beals' journey begins so do the warrior references, even before Melba herself is capable of realizing it. As Melba fights for her survival in only her first week of life, she is already being sung "On the Battlefield for My Lord" by her grandmother (Beals, 5). This foreshadows the impending war she will go on to fight as well as instilling her personal, family and religious values in the reader's mind. Beals, born on a day of war - the day Pearl Harbor was attacked, grows up in a world where she is taught to be strong, yet allow herself to be pushed down by whites. "As a toddler, growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1945, I felt safe only in my sepia-toned world, a cocoon of familiar people and places. I knew that there were white people living somewhere far away and we didn't do things together. My folks never explained why I should be frightened of those white people." (6) In this early quote from the memoirs, the foundations of Beals' warrior insight may be witnessed, as well as how she slowly came to be surprised at the violence that wo...
Melba began her story with her childhood in Little Rock, Arkansas. She lived with her mother, grandma, and brother in a strict and religious household. Her family had come to accept the fact that they would always be mistreated because of their color. In the South this mistreatment of blacks was seen as perfectly normal, but Melba saw things a little differently. As a young girl, she experienced first hand how awful it was to be segregated against and be constantly ridiculed simply because of her color. Unlike most people, though, she wanted to do something about it and prayed for an opportunity that would allow her to fight back and hopefully make a difference.
Melba Pattillo Beals, part of the group of students, Little Rock Nine, created a turning point in African American history. She and the rest of her group were the first ones to attend an all white
It all started in high school, as a person, I was far from being responsible. School was just a place to meet friends, spent most of my time playing around, and never thought about the future. But gradually, my parents were getting worried about me. One night, I was in my room when they called, and asked me to go to the living room. I looked at their faces and I knew that we were going to have a serious conversation, and I was right. They tried to give me an advice, an advice on how time flies and I never had the ability to turn it back. That life was about making the right decision, and there were options and opportunities presented to me. Whether they were good or bad, I need to think of what was best for me and made a decision on which options or opportunities I would take, so I had not regretted my decision later on in my life. When I heard this, I realized that all this time, I had been wasting time playing around and I need to think about the future. For a couple of days, I was weighing my option left and right about what to do after graduated. Should I go straight to...
At one point I came to the conclusion that I’m either going to fail, go to summer school, or go to a school that I didn't want to attend. I felt so disappointed in myself because I knew that I could've done better. So then one day I told myself, “I can do this”. I then started to study more than I usually did, I turned in all of my missing work and my present work, and I also took an after school tutoring class
“”You’ll make this your last cry. You’re a warrior on the battlefield for your Lord. God’s warriors don’t cry, ‘cause they trust that he’s always by their side””( Pattillo Beals,44). One way Melba follows her Grandma’s advice is when she allows the Lord to keep her safe when she is in a time of need. Melba was trusting the Lord to get her through anything and everything. “My heart was weeping, but I squeezed back the tears. I squared my shoulders and tried to remember what Grandma had said “God loves you,child; no matter what, he sees you as his precious idea””(Pattillo Beals,75/76). She shows her inner strength through this By trusting the Lord not to let anything happen to her. Sometimes she must feel like he’s not going to be there, but she doesn’t let that get to her. One way she allowed the Lord to keep her safe is when her mother and her were running away from the white
The definition of a warrior is "one who is engaged in or experienced in battle, or in the military life; a soldier; a champion". Melba Beals proved to be a warrior throughout all of the events that surrounded the integration of Central High School. Although she eventually had to leave town, she and the other eight students showed true bravery and courage when they decided to scale the walls of segregation and end the oppression of the white people in Little Rock. Beals was truly woman who fought hard and kept her faith in route to becoming a "warrior" and eventually a "champion" in the fight for civil rights.
In the memoir Warriors Don’t Cry Melba Pattillo Beals illustrates the characteristics of a warrior that are required to fight for social change. Melba has to deal with continuous hatred from whites and blacks, and these unfortunate events morph her into a faithful and courageous warrior.
came home from school. At home, my parents pressured me to study all of the time, but I was frustrated
As I started to advance into my high school education, I noticed that my attitude about school and grades was not going to get me anywhere. I went to school and goofed off with my friends and did enough work to get a decent 70 on my work and go home. I had no “active responsibility”, as Freire would say, because I didn’t have anything to motivate me to want to do well. It all changed when I started high school at Bear Grass Charter School. Bear Grass had just reopened as a charter school my freshman year. I was a new beginning for me because not only was I starting out at a new school, but I started to realize that I needed to improve my self-effort in my classes. I knew that I wanted to be a nurse when I graduated and I
Racism makes up most of the story and is the main obstacle for Melba. Racism still goes on today and 10th graders need to learn the history of it so they can grow up knowing what problems can come from racism. They need to grasp the idea of how racism can ruin lives and how it divides communities.In the memoir, a man attempted to rape Melba and this type of assault happened regularly in the 1960s. This happened because if a disagreement ensued, it would usually go the white person's way. Grandma India tells Melba to “pray for that evil white man, pray every day for 21 days, asking God to forgive him and to teach him right“. grandma India tells Melba to pray all throughout the book when she struggles with the people who do unforgivable things
My parents always encouraged me to strive for the best, so when they noticed my mediocre grades and lack of motivation in high school they were not happy with me and always reminded me to be grateful for the opportunities in front of me. Imagine the “when I was your age…” speech on steroids. Truth is I was unmotivated; no subject sparked my interest and the only subject that I had some remote interest in was medicine/healthcare. So when my senior year rolled
The setting of the novel is Little Rock Arkansas in 1958. During this time period in Little Rock many schools were closed. Fortunately for Marlee the schools where she lived were closed because of segregation. If the schools weren't closed because of segregation then Marlee wouldn't have found her voice. Marlee had to fight for her friendship with a negro and less importantly her sister because of segregation and racism.
My law of life is, “Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom” (George S. Patton ). In my day to day life I tend to believe that failure is not an option, yet this belief came to a halt in 8th grade where academically I faltered well below what I was capable of. That year in school, I finished with once C and two B’s and although I was taking accelerated classes, it was a sucker-punch to my face as previously I hadn’t experienced a setback in school. Throughout the summer and into the beginning of high school, I was struggling with questions about my true identity. Even with doubt in my mind, I created my ultimate goal which was to mount my way back up freshmen year and set the building the blocks to receive admission into America’s most prestigious colleges.