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Emily Fluke read Warriors Don’t Cry – A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High by Melba Patillo Beals

I had to read Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High to prepare for my freshman year at Loomis Chaffee School (in Windsor, Connecticut). It’s the autobiography of Melba Patillo Beals, a girl who was chosen to be one of nine blacks to integrate an all white high school.

The main character in Warriors Don’t Cry was a girl who was singled out and harassed for being black. I relate to her, but on a different level. I, too, felt that I was singled out as the only girl on an all guys’ hockey team. Just like the girl in the book who didn’t give up her goal of graduating from high school, I didn’t give up my goal of earning the respect of my male teammates.

In Melba’s story, there’s one white boy who decides to help her make her life easier, even though he went against his friends’ and family’s beliefs. He was only one person, but he made a difference.

At Loomis Chaffee, we take pride in our diversity. When I found that there was a club called PRISM (People Rising in Support of Multiculturalism), I joined because I wanted to be the one person who could make a difference. Today, I have many friends, regardless of their race. This book showed me that being open to diversity can give you a whole new perspective on life.

Ne Cede Malis. This is our school motto. Do not yield to adversity.

To Learn More ...

Learn about the author Melba Pattillo Beals as well as what has become of the students who were the first to integrate Little Rock High. You might be interested in Loomis Chaffee's Multicultural Institute.

Let us know if there are other sites you would like to see listed about this book and its topics.

Emily read Warriors Don't Cry. She was interviewed for this article by her brother Robert who is a sixth grader at the Forestdale School in Sandwich.