Melba Joy Patillo Beals (born December 7, 1941) is an American journalist and educator who was a member of the

Little Rock Nine The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering ...

, a group of

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

students who were the first to racially integrate Little Rock Central High School in

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

Early life and education

Born on December 7, 1941, Beals grew up in a family that prioritized education. Her mother, Lois Marie Pattillo, was one of the first black graduates of the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkans ...

in 1954 who worked as a middle school English teacher. Her father, Howell Pattillo, worked for the

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...

. Beals' brother, Conrad S. Pattillo, served as U.S. Marshal of the Eastern District of Arkansas during the

Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over ...

High school education

While attending Horace Mann High School in Little Rock, an all-black high school, Patillo became aware that she was not receiving the same quality education as her peers at Central High School. Patillo then volunteered to transfer to the all-white Central High School with eight other black students from Horace Mann and Dunbar Junior High School in Little Rock. Beals was 15 years old when she chose to enroll at Central High school in May 1956. The nine black students faced mobs that forced President Dwight D. Eisenhower to send in the

101st Airborne Division The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operati ...

to protect their lives after the governor of Arkansas,

Orval Faubus Orval Eugene Faubus ( ; January 7, 1910 – December 14, 1994) was an American politician who served as the 36th Governor of Arkansas from 1955 to 1967, as a member of the Democratic Party. In 1957, he refused to comply with a unanimous ...

, used

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

troops to block the students' entry to the school. Beals planned on returning to Central High for the 1958–1959 school year, but Governor Faubus shut down all Little Rock high schools that failed to resist integration, leading to other school districts across the South to do the same. Not until August 1959 did Central High reopen on an integrated basis. Beals relocated to

Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa ( Spanish for " Saint Rose") is a city and the county seat of Sonoma County, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area in California. Its estimated 2019 population was 178,127. It is the largest city in California's Wine Country and ...

with help from the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&n ...

to complete her senior year of high school at Montgomery High School. Beals lived with the family of foster parents Dr. George and Carol McCabe. At the age of seventeen, she began writing for major newspapers and magazines.

College

Beals attended

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different ...

, earning a bachelor's degree. She later earned a master's degree in journalism from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. On May 22, 2009, she received her Doctoral Degree in Education at the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

. The day marked USF's 150th annual commencement ceremony.

Career

Beals' book ''Warriors Don't Cry'' chronicles the events of 1957 during the Little Rock crisis, based partly on diaries she kept during the period. She also wrote ''White is a State of Mind'', which begins where ''Warriors'' left off. To date, ''Warriors Don't Cry'' continues to be a #1

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

bestseller in the "Prejudice Books for Teens & Young Adults" genre. In 1959, the NAACP awarded the

Spingarn Medal The Spingarn Medal is awarded annually by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for an outstanding achievement by an African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) ...

to Beals and to the other members of the

, together with civil rights leader Daisy Bates, who had advised the group during their struggles at Central High. In 1999, she and the rest of the Nine were awarded the highest civilian honor, the

Congressional Gold Medal The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress. It is Congress's highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions. The congressional pract ...

. Only three hundred others have received this. She taught journalism at

Dominican University of California Dominican University of California is a private university in San Rafael, California. It was founded in 1890 as Dominican College by the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael. It is one of the oldest universities in California. Dominican is accred ...

, where she is the chair emeritus of the communications department.

Personal life

While in college, she met John Beals, who she later married. They had one daughter, Kelli, and later divorced. Around 1992, Beals adopted twin sons, Matthew and Evan.Melba Pattillo Beals, ''White is a State of Mind'' (Putnam Adult, 1999). Beals resides in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area G ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

*Beals, Melba Pattillo. ''Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High''. New York: Pocket Books, 1994. *Beals, Melba Pattillo. ''White Is a State of Mind: A Memoir''. Putnam Adult, 1999. *Beals, Melba Pattillo. ''March Forward, Girl: From Young Warrior to Little Rock Nine''. HMH Books for Young Readers, 2018. *Beals, Melba Pattillo. ''I Will Not Fear: My Story of a Lifetime of Building Faith under Fire''. Revell, 2018.

External links

* at C-SPAN
Warriors Don’t Cry: Connecting History, Literature, and Our Lives
a teaching activity from th
Zinn Education Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beals, Melba Pattillo 1941 births Living people Congressional Gold Medal recipients Little Rock Nine Writers from Little Rock, Arkansas American women journalists African-American women journalists African-American journalists San Francisco State University alumni Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Spingarn Medal winners