Warriors Don't Cry
Reading Assignment One: Chapters 1-3
Examine the ways segregation defines and confines Melba Pattillo and other African Americans in Little Rock in the 1950s.
• Melba writes, "Black folks aren't born expecting segregation. . . . Instead the humiliating expectations and traditions of segregation creep over you slowly stealing a teaspoonful of your self-esteem each day." (page 3, abridged; page 6, unabridged) How does Melba learn those expectations and traditions? What does she know about segregation by the time that she has reached the age of eight? What has she learned by the age of twelve?
• How do the "humiliating expectations and traditions of segregation" shape the attitudes and actions of the adults in Melba's family? How do those "expectations and traditions" affect the way Melba views their ability to protect her and themselves from mistreatment?
• In 1954, when Melba is just thirteen, a white man tries to rape her. How do the adults in Melba's family respond to the incident? Why do you think they decide not to call the police? What do they fear?
How do those fears keep the family from bringing the attacker to justice? How do they affect the way Melba sees herself and others?
Examine Melba's decision to attend Central High.
• What prompts Melba to raise her hand when a teacher asks who would like to attend Central High? Why do you think she does not tell her family that she has volunteered? What does she fear?
• How did Melba's parents and grandmother respond to the news that she had been chosen to attend Central High? What did they fear? Why do you think they allowed her to attend despite those fears?
• Superintendent Virgil Blossom and other school officials chose Melba and the other eight African American students to desegregate
Central High from dozens of applicants. What did these students have in common? What qualities may have prompted school officials to decide on these particular students?
• How did school and community leaders prepare for the desegregation of Central High? Whom did they consult? Whom did they leave out of the process? How important do you think these omissions will be?
• Why do you think that so many of Melba's stories focus on her mother and grandmother?
WDC-READING ASSIGNMENT TWO
Chapters 4-8, pages 33-68 (abridged) Chapters 5-9, pages 45-105 (unabridged)
Discuss how secrets affect Melba's view of herself and her family.
• Why does Melba's mother insist that she and Melba keep their encounter with the mob outside Central High School a secret, even if it means telling a "white lie"? What is a "white lie"? How is it different from other lies?
• How does keeping the secret affect Melba in the weeks that follow?
• What other secrets has Melba kept over the years? How do those secrets shape the way she sees herself and her family?
• Melba's grandmother likens Melba to a "warrior on the battlefield for your Lord." What is a warrior? How is a "warrior for one's Lord" different from other warriors?
• In what sense are Melba and the other eight students "warriors"? What qualities do warriors have? Which of those qualities do you think they will need to make it through the school year?
• Do you agree with the advice Melba's grandmother gives her? When is crying a sign of weakness? A sign of strength? Who decides? Is it different for men? For women? For children? ?Describe how the crisis in Central High School affects people in Little Rock and other places.
• How does Melba characterize the way that individuals and groups in Little Rock, both black and white, respond to the crisis?
• What role does the media seem to play in the crisis? How important is that role?
• On page 52 of the abridged edition and page 83 of the unabridged, Melba describes an ad created by a white man from a small town in Arkansas. What is the message of his ad? At whom is it directed? How do you explain Melba's response to it? How do you think others in the community may have responded?
Explore the way Melba uses comparison and contrast to show the effects of segregation.
• What qualities does Melba attribute to Thurgood Marshall? Which of these qualities does she most admire?
• To what adults does she compare Marshall? What does that compar- ison suggest about the way she views those adults?
• What does her comparison suggest about the effects of segregation?