Warriors Don't Cry

Melba says she was born on Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 1941, implying that drama, great challenges, and unexpected events will follow her throughout her life.

Melba almost dies as an infant when, after an emergency surgery, the medical staff does not follow through on the doctor’s post-operative instructions. When confronted about her omission, the white nurse acknowledges it, saying, “But we don’t coddle n*****s” (3).

Lois, Melba’s birth mother, is an English teacher who teaches Melba to read and write at an early age. By age 4, she has become aware of the prejudice her family experienced. She learns some white people have privileges Black people do not have.

She describes her family’s relationships. Her father lived with the family until she was seven years old, when her parents divorced. Melba lives with “Grandma India” and “Mother Lois.” Her grandmother is a person of great faith who teaches Melba to keep a diary and write down all the things that trouble her and all the injustice she sees as if she is writing everything to God. India repeatedly tells her that, one day, God will set things right.

When Melba is in seventh grade, on a day she calls “unforgettable,” she hears about the Brown v. Board of Education ruling from the US Supreme Court determining segregation to be unconstitutional. That day, Little Rock school teachers send Black students home from school early, fearfully telling them to stay together in groups.

Melba takes a shortcut as she goes home, walking across a familiar field. A large, enraged white man attempts to rape her. Marissa, an older girl in her class who has a developmental delay, repeatedly strikes the man on the back of the head with her book bag, and the girls run away. When she gets home, her grandmother makes her take a long, soothing bath and burns her clothes. India says, “Now you soak a while, child. When the water goes down the drain, it will take away all that white man’s evil with it” (17). There is a debate among her elders about whether to report this to the police. Ultimately, they decide that reporting the assault will create worse problems, so they remain silent.

Over the next couple of years, as the debate continues about when Little Rock schools will integrate, Melba decides that she wants to be one of the first group of Black students who goes to Central High. She signs up to do so without telling her parents and without believing it will happen. A few weeks before the school year begins, she visits Cincinnati, where her great-uncle is an Episcopal priest. There she experiences the amazing freedom of being in an integrated community.

As the vacation draws to a close, her father calls her mother in Cincinnati and says he has heard that Melba’s name is on the list of Black students enrolled in Central High. Listening to the news in Cincinnati, they hear Melba’s name read on the air. This causes a great deal of pushback from her mother and grandmother. They are highly critical of her decision and the pain and difficulty it might cause their family.

Melba finds her life turned upside down by the preparations necessary for the integration of Central High. There is a constant influx of people calling her, from segregationists threatening her to preachers praising her to community leaders telling her how they want her to act.

All the Black students enrolled in Central High self-selected to attend. Originally there were 17, although some changed their minds, leaving nine students, all of whom Melba names, describing the sort of people they are. She realizes that, together, they are an unusual group that coalesces well. Melba writes, “I began to feel as though we had formed some kind of group—an odd family of people with one goal: to get inside Central High and stay there for the school year” (27).

Melba listens to the news constantly and hears many rumors about what Governor Faubus will do to prevent her from attending school. There is a family gathering on Labor Day, the day before classes are to begin. Because Faubus calls out the National Guard, there is no school for the Black students on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the time comes for their initial gathering. Administrators tell the parents of the students not to accompany their children because it will be easier to provide for the safety of the students if there are no Black adults present. There are church leaders and members of the Black community who want to accompany the young people. Segregationists have come from many Southern states in large numbers to participate in blockading the school so that Black students cannot get in. Melba listens to constant news reports on the radio until the time comes when she has to meet with the other students several blocks away from the school.

Amid the hubbub of the intended first day of integration, Melba and her mother get into their green Pontiac to drive to Central and join the other Black students. There is an amazing amount of traffic that morning, making it very difficult to move around. Melba describes a constant hum, like the sound of a crowd at a football game.

As Melba and Lois try to determine what is happening, they notice a commotion in front of the high school. They see long rows of soldiers armed with rifles standing in front of Central. As they get closer, they realize that those comprising the crowd are almost entirely hostile white people. Though some look at them sympathetically, nobody does anything to assist Melba and her mother. Lois and Melba push through the crowd, and when they get close to the school, they see one of the other Black students, five-foot-tall Elizabeth, standing in front of the line of soldiers, trying to find a way through to get to school. The soldiers close ranks, so she is unable to get through. Then people in the crowd begin to hound Elizabeth. Melba describes Elizabeth’s response: “As she turned toward us, her eyes hidden by dark glasses, we could see how erect and proud she stood despite the fear she must have been feeling” (36). Elizabeth goes to a bus stop and sits down.

Melba’s mother decides it is unsafe for them and that they must get away from the school. As they head back to their car, a group of white men begins to pursue them, shouting expletives and epithets and trying to grab hold of them. Lois gives Melba her car keys and tells her to run to the car. Melba refuses to leave her mother. Lois kicks off her high heels, and they run as fast as they can. Melba starts the car, picks up her mother, and backs away from the crowd at high speed.

They manage to get home, where Grandma India waits. The Black students check in with one another, trying to decide how things went. They find that Elizabeth received protection from a white man and woman. They realize that because she did not have a telephone, she did not know of the Black students’ intended gathering place. The phone rings all day. Lois must go to work and leaves Melba with her grandmother. They shut and shutter all the windows and doors. India forbids Melba from going outside to avoid recognition by people who might realize she is one of the integrating students.

In the afternoon, a friend calls to ask her to spend some time at a community center where she regularly meets her friends. India refuses to allow her to leave, so Melba goes to her room to cry. Her grandmother sits on the bed and tells her to have that last little cry because she is not allowed to cry from now on. India tells her she is a warrior for the Lord, and warriors don’t cry. That evening as they gather to eat, Melba gets a phone call she believes is from a friend, only to discover it is a white boy who threatens to attack her in the middle of the night.

Following the failure of the Black students’ attempt to enter Central High, Melba watches the news constantly to see what’s happening. She lingers on thoughts of all she will miss because her life is now so confined. Her elders refuse to allow her to go to the Saturday-night wrestling matches with her grandmother for fear that segregationists, who have vowed to attack her, might recognize her. Feeling trapped in her home because of the restrictions placed upon her, Melba exclaims, “Everything’s being taken from me” (51).

She gathers with the other Black students, and they begin to have lessons together to avoid falling behind in their studies. Many reporters representing national and international news organizations question the nine students frequently. For the first time, Melba hears herself called one of the Little Rock Nine. She strives to give meaningful answers to the reporters’ questions.

Melba meets Thurgood Marshall and other Civil Rights leaders who help her realize the significance of what she is doing. For the first time, Melba says she feels equal to a white person. She knows there is going to be an important court hearing in which the federal government will weigh in against Governor Faubus. The hearing will determine whether Central High will be open to the Black students.

On the day of the hearing, all nine of the students rise early. Melba believes that if Faubus could just meet her, he would understand that it will not harm white students to go to school with her. She also wants to meet the governor in person, so she can stop hating him.

The group gathers and enters as one through a side door into the federal courthouse. People of both races line the sidewalks. Melba feels completely conspicuous as she says, “I wore dark glasses, which allowed me to peer out wherever I wanted without anybody being able to see how fearful I was” (62). Thurgood Marshall enters with them, along with numerous federal attorneys, National Guard members, and state attorneys. The small, completely packed courtroom only holds 100 people. Federal lawyers tell the students to sit quietly and wait in case they must testify.

The state’s lawyers raise many procedural issues that the judge swats away like flies. He has little patience for the delaying tactics of Faubus’s lawyers. As they approach the lunch hour, all of the state’s lawyers leave the courtroom as a group, which had been their plan from the beginning. After lunch, two students testify about why they want to go to Central. The judge asks the superintendent how the students were chosen. The superintendent makes it sound like there had been a winnowing process through which the students were selected.

The judge decides that there is no threat of violence justifying the governor’s mobilizing of the Arkansas National Guard. He orders that, on the next Monday, Central High School will integrate. As the day ends, Melba thinks that, at long last, she will become a student at Central.