March Forward, Girl: From Young Warrior to Little Rock Nine

by Melba Pattillo Beals

Paperback, 2019

Status

Available

Genres

Nonfiction

All Topics

Publication

Clarion Books (2019), Edition: Reprint, 224 pages

Description

Long before she was one of the Little Rock Nine, Melba Pattillo Beals was a warrior. Frustrated by the laws that kept African-Americans separate but very much unequal to whites, she had questions: Why couldn't she drink from a whites only fountain? Why couldn't she feel safe beyond home-or even within the walls of church? Adults all told her: Hold your tongue. Be patient. Know your place. But Beals had the heart of a fighter-and the knowledge that her true place was a free one. This memoir paints a vivid picture of Beals's powerful early journey on the road to becoming a champion for equal rights, an acclaimed journalist, a bestselling author, and the recipient of this country's highest recognition, the Congressional Gold Medal.

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Rating

(8 ratings; 4.3)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Whisper1

This is an excellent book written by one of the little rock nine students. At the time of segregation, the disparity of educational systems was abhorrent. In particular, as a child, Melba writes of the fear of the dark when the KKK came out to scare, and lynching of innocent.

Highly recommended.

1 more

LibraryThing member dara85

Melba grows up in Little Rock, Arkansas in the 1940’s where blacks are not treated equally. Melba longs for freedom and equal treatment, even as a young child. At the age of five, she is in church where she feels safe. A group of Ku Klux Klansmen come in during services and a hang a man from one

of the beams of the church for being “uppity”. Her grandmother is the guiding force in her life and raises Melba and her brother while her mother works. As Melba reaches high school age she is chose to be one of the “Little Rock Nine”. One of the nine students that integrates Central High School in 1957. Melba writes an interesting biography of being a black child in Arkansas and of being one of the first black students to attend an all-white high school.

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