The Journey Of Segregation In Warriors Don T Cry By Melba Beals Patillo

In the years immediately after World War II the United States dominated global affairs, but gradually Americans began to question dominant assumptions about American Life. The Cold War was considered the most important political issue of the early postwar period. The war brought the return of prosperity, however African Americans became increasingly fidgety in the postwar years. This act can be due to the fact that during the war they had challenged discrimination in the military services and in the work force, yet they had made limited gains. In fact, blacks challenged discrimination in a variety of fields and struggled to succeed. Struggles that blacks faced during post WWII were centered in cities such as Birmingham, Alabama, Little Rock,

Although they experienced many milestones from white supremacy while trying to achieve their goal they did not quit and fought back. In this essay, the journey of African Americans and their yearning for equality will be expressed through examples of strategies they used as well as the responses they received from whites such as violence and obstruction. Some key sources that will be used in order to provide the reader with full knowledge on how blacks solidified their goal of overturning the judicial doctrine, established in the court case Plessy v. Ferguson, and securing the right of desegregation. In the book, Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Beals Patillo provides a good emphasis on the hardships blacks faced from whites in school. Along with the readings: Birmingham’s Untouchables by Robin Kelley, Testing the Limits by Charles Payne, I wanted the Whole World to See by Ruth Feldstein, and We are in the Front Lines in the Battle for Democracy by James Wolfinger will be used to provide specific examples of the actions that had taken place during the post-WWII

Melba who is the main character as well as the narrator in the book displays conflicts she had faced due to the problem of racism in the early periods of desegregation. These conflicts encountered are shown throughout the attendance in an all white school known as Central High school. Melba is one of the Little Rock Nine who gave up their innocence of childhood in order to obtain success with integration. Although they were faced with hardships, the journey of these nine blacks in Central High School shows their determination as young people to make a change. One of the main themes expressed in the book was the idea of power shift. A basic understanding of power during this time in the segregated south was that white people were seen to be superior to blacks and hold all the power where blacks did not hold any. And due to the act of disobedience by the nine black children who entered into Little Rock High School threatened to change the way white segregationists exerted their power. It scared the whites. Whites would rely on the mobs of their people in order to overwhelm the black teenagers, however only to show that whites aren’t as strong as everyone thinks they are because they need more than one to do their “deed” of scaring blacks off. Yet, due to the advise of Melba’s Grandma India she taught her to not