Müller
Valentin
CULTURAL STUDIES USA
22.05.14
When I read Melba Pattillo Beals’s story I felt very bad. I can’t believe that some schools refused to
present a reasonable plan for integration; moreover, I can’t believe that some had to be forced to
act. Although President Dwight Eisenhower sent in troops of the 101st Airborne and later the
Arkansas National Guards, whose purpose was to protect the teenagers, they still got abused and
beaten. I really admire Melba’s will to preserve, and I admire her courage to speak up to the white
principal although her mother and father feared doing so. If there hadn’t been bodyguards, I guess
she would have been killed. I don’t understand people who always say,” Everything was better in the
old days.”; nothing was better.