Standing Erect in the Face of Adversity: Defining Melba Pattillo Beals
By Rachel Anderson
Walking down the hallway, the young girl appeared very much alone and in her own
world. Some groups lingered near, taunting her as she passed while others were more daring as
they physically abused her by either pushing her into the nearby lockers, walking on her heels
until they bled, or spitting in her face. Still others had planned for this occasion, awaiting the
perfect moment to catch Melba Pattillo in the hallway without a bodyguard or teacher nearby to
throw explosive rockets in her direction. Even when chaos encircled this young girl, she stood
erect, walking with a purpose, obviously driven by a great dream. This was the reality of life for
Melba Pattillo Beals and her eight African American peers as they integrated Central High
School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. Melba Patillo Beals, a daughter, granddaughter, sister,
wife, student, and journalist refused to let others define her. Her belief in her ability to bring
about change, her warrior-like attitude, and role in the public sphere defied the status quo of
racial and gender politics in her era.
Challenging both gender and racial roles of her time, Beals had the audacity to believe
that she could bring about remarkable change for her people through her willingness to take a
stand. Beals was not the only young African American who was willing to defy their subordinate
status in society, however, she was one of the few. The article “Bigger than a Hamburger,”
portrays a student movement in the 1960s where black youth were willing to undergo hardships
in order to obtain racial equality, just like Beals.1 In Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957, however,
Beals became an outsider not only amongst the white community, but also in her own
neighborhood, church community, and circle of friends because of her decision to integrate
Central High School.2 In fact, when Beals became a student at Central, her circle of friends
Ella Baker, “Bigger than a Hamburger,” The Southern Patriot.
Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little
Rock’s Central High (New York: Washington Square Press, 1994) 85.
1
2
slowly but surely began to distance themselves from her not only because they might disagree
with integration or the timing of it, but because they were unwilling to risk their safety and
“normal” existence even to support her. Beals comments about her struggle with losing her
friends and growing apart from people she once had much in common with when she describes
her changing relationship with Marsha, her best friend.3 Once Beals became associated with
integration, she no longer received daily afternoon calls from Marsha to discuss their favorite
records, new clothes, or boys at school, nor did she get invited to parties on the weekends from
any of her former friends. Even though her friends began to distance themselves from her when
they found out Beals’ decision to become a student at Central, she still believed they would
attend her sixteenth birthday party, which she had been dreaming about since she was a little girl.
On the night of the party, the balloons in place, the food prepared, her outfit selected specifically
for this special occasion, only Vince, her boyfriend, showed up; no one else had even bothered to
call, advising they had decided not to come. When Beals confronts Marsha about this, Marsha
states, “The truth is, we’re afraid to come to your house.”4 Volunteering to integrate Central
High School, Beals was well aware that she was risking her safety to uplift her people, however,
she did not understand at the time that this decision would isolate her, making her different from
those she once held dear. Even when she came to this heartbreaking understanding, even when
she yearned to simply be a normal girl again, concerned with superficial issues as opposed to
survival, Beals believed she had made the right decision for her to work towards integration.5
Rebelling against her community and her subordinate position in society, Beals earnestly
believed her role integrating Central High School would impact her people for good. Instilled
3
Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors, 156.
Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors, 215.
5
Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors, 89.
4
with confidence and support from her family, Beals was proud of her commitment to make a
change and trusted that her sacrifices were meaningful, powerful, and purposeful. Growing up,
Beals had witnessed the giants in her life, her father, mother, and grandmother, quiver, submit,
and succumb to the notion of white supremacy. Her mother would always move on the sidewalk
to allow whites to pass and her father would not speak up for her mother when the local
dairyman harassed her.6 Beals recalls, “There were so many times when I felt shame, and all the
hope drained from my soul as I watched the adults in my family kowtow to white people.”7
Instead of accepting this inequality, Beals believed in and hoped for a better future and was
willing to make sacrifices to see it come to fruition. Throughout her recollection of her time in
Central, Beals recounts her positive outlook towards integration and the future for her people.
She advises that at the time she earnestly thought that the segrationalists and especially Governor
Faubus would reconsider their blind hatred towards blacks if only they had a moment to speak
with her and her friends, to get to know them as people, not just African American students.8
Once she came to the realization that some opinions could not be changed, Beals found hope in
small, kind gestures like a smile from white students in the hate-filled hallways and classrooms
of Central.9 Because Beals earnestly believed that the white students would accept her if only
they got to know her as a human being, she was willing to take risks and to step into the spotlight
to introduce herself. Mid-year, Beals agreed to speak at Central’s early morning chapel service
where her talk centered on God’s love for all of his children. Afterwards, she told her mother that
she felt she had made a positive impact, helping students recognize the commonalities between
6
Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors, 7 & 15.
Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors, 15.
8
Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors, 93 & 45.
9
Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors, 139.
7
races.10 Defying her position in society, isolated from her community and normal existence,
Beals held onto the belief that her sacrifices would ultimately matter for her people. She sums up
this belief in one of her diary entries advising, “This is going to work. It is going to take a lot
more patience and a lot more strength from me, but it’s going to work.”11
While integrating Central High School, Beals defied her gender and racial roles by
developing a warrior-like spirit. As previously discussed, African Americans during the 1950s
were supposed to act submissively and subordinately towards white society. African American
women especially were supposed to act meek, proper, and respectful towards the “superior” race,
ensuring they remain in their respected, separate sphere. Beals challenged these notions by
braving her days in Central with a dignity, grace, courage, and strength equal to that of a warrior.
Inside the hallways and classrooms of the high school, Beals encountered merciless taunting,
death threats, hateful acts, and physical mistreatment on a daily basis. She was trapped in
bathroom stalls while girls threw firy paper wads towards her, scorched with scalding water in
her shower stall, and choked behind bleachers during pep rallies. When she no longer believed
she could muster the strength to continue, her bodyguard, Danny, encouraged Beals to picture
herself as a warrior entering the battle zone.12 With this mentality, Beals was able to face the
segragationalists and the students they influenced with confidence and purpose. She learned to
focus on survival, to hold herself erect, to not show emotion, and to keep moving, no matter what
happened. Beals wrote in a journal entry, “I think only the warrior exists in me now. Melba went
away. She was too frightened to stay here.”13 Worse than the physical pain, however, was the
emotional harm she suffered. To combat this mental and emotional damage, Beals’ grandmother
10
Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors, 199.
Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors, 161.
12
Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors, 149.
13
Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors, 246.
11
advised her to study the passive ways of Ghandi. Instead of retaliating, Beals changed the rules
of her peer’s hate games to gain power and control of the situation. To survive and accomplish
her mission of completing one full year at Central High School, Beals refused to submit or
succumb to her proper gender and racial roles. She defied these roles through her unwavering
confidence, determination, courage, and strength to do anything and everything necessary to
survive the hell that had become her everyday life.
Before, during, and after her time at Central, Beals challenged her gender and racial roles
by placing value in her education and desiring to exist outside the proper occupational roles for
women. During the 1950s, the proper sphere for a woman was again in the home, preparing a
peaceful escape for her husband. Betty Friedan acknowledges this professionalization of
motherhood in her book, The Feminine Mystique by claiming that 1950s women, “pitied their
poor frustrated mothers, who had dreamed of having a career.”14 It was proper, therefore, for the
women in the 1950s to aspire only to be the perfect wife and mother. Although Beals’
grandmother and mother played maternal roles, they also emphasized the importance of
education to Beals as a young girl. They read to her from Shakespeare and worked with her
during the evenings on her schoolwork.15 Her mother also modeled the value they placed on
education by being the first in the family to receive a graduate degree.16 Growing up in this
environment influenced Beals, developing her determination to have a profession. When
selecting her career path, Beals did not let her gender determine her occupation. During the
1950s, women were more likely to take clerical roles if they did work outside the home. If they
worked in business, it was expected that women defer their work to men who were always their
14
Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique.
Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors, 7.
16
Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors, 11.
15
superiors for final approval.17 In Warriors Don’t Cry, however, Beals never once mentioned her
hesitation to enter the field of journalism, one dominated by men during her time. She first
became enamored with the idea of journalism at an NAACP news conference during the
beginning of integration.18 “I thought to myself, just maybe this is what I want to be when I grow
up. If I were a news reporter, I could be in charge of a few things.”19 Beals went on to get an
undergraduate degree from San Francisco State and a graduate degree from Columbia
University. Supported by her family, Beals refused to let others determine what occupational
path was appropriate for her. At a young age, she aspired to become a journalist and followed
this pursuit by acquiring the appropriate degrees.
Beals defied of her proper racial and gender roles by integrating Central High School in
1957. Her audacity to believe in a better future for her people, her warrior-like spirit during
integration, and her emphasis on education to better her life made her an outsider in her time.
Because Beals volunteered to integrate Central, she chose this outsider status, even if at the time
she was unaware of the consequences. When the hellish reality of life at Central became
unbearable, Beals longed for the time when she was simply a normal teenager, yet her belief that
integration mattered never wavered. Beals was forced to become a warrior once a student at
Central, solidifying her role as a defiant outsider. The constant verbal and physical harassment
forced her to build walls to shield herself from emotional abuse. After reviewing Beals’ time
integrating Central, it is apparent that the mainstream of society during her era valued women
who submitted to their “proper sphere,” subordinate to men. White men, and therefore their
wives, feared change mostly because they feared losing their superior status in society. Beals’
“Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Position Paper: Women in the Movement”
Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors, 89.
19
Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors, 90.
17
18
determination to stand up to this oppression changed American society for good, just as she
hoped and planned that it would.