Dr. Melba Pattillo Beals Keynote Address - Excerpt

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Association of Santa Clara Valley's 2008 Mover of Mountains Awards Breakfast at the Wyndham Hotel in San Jose, CA on January 22, 2008.

In 1957, while most teenage girls were listening to Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue," watching Elvis gyrate and collecting crinoline slips, a 15-year-old Melba Pattillo and eight other black students faced the wrath of segregationists and the Govenor of Arkansas to become the first black students to enter Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The civil rights battle which erupted rocked this country, put the world on edge and set Melba's life forever on a different course. She faced angry, rampant killer mobs and renegade police who forced then-President Eisenhower to send combat-ready soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division to protect the lives of the nine students.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Little
• Rock
• Civil
• Rights
• Segregation
• Arkansas

[grandmasingleton]

good to see Melba....knew her years ago and sad to say lost contact.

[Fallout3NexusModding]

Danb yiu must be a failure

[Haettenschwelier]

you must of not read the book with an open mind D1ovas.

[D1ovas]

lol i had to read warriors dont cry in school abd i must admin, Melba is a NOOB. I mean seriously, i knew she wasn't a "warrior" because she cried.

[lourdesgirl101]

Both of those books were REALLY good.

[airjor1]

I read Ms. Pattillo Beals books, "Warriors don't cry," and "White is a state of mind." She teaches at Dominican University Of California in San Rafael.