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 th ...

, a group of black students who were the first to racially integrate Little Rock Central High School in

Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

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 o ...

. Beals' brother, Conrad S. Pattillo, served as

U.S. Marshal The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The Marshals Service serves as the enforcement and security arm of the U.S. federal judiciary. It is an agency of the U.S. Department of Jus ...

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 his victory over Republican in ...

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 Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

to send in the

101st Airborne Division The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division (military), division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault military operation, operations. The 101st is designed to plan, coordinat ...

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 List of governors of Arkansas, 36th Governor of Arkansas from 1955 to 1967, as a member of the Democratic Party (United States), D ...

, used

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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

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with help from the

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

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 (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

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

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. 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 university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1855, it has nearly 9,000 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees ...

. 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: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

bestseller in the "Teen & Young Adult Nonfiction on Prejudice" genre. In 1959, the NAACP awarded the

Spingarn Medal The Spingarn Medal is awarded annually by the NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for an outstanding achievement by an African Americans, African American. The award was created in 1914 by Joel Elias Spingarn, ...

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 the oldest and highest civilian award in the United States, alongside the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is bestowed by vote of the United States Congress, signed into law by the president. The Gold Medal exp ...

. 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, United States. It was founded in 1890 as Dominican College by the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael. It is one of the oldest universities in California. Dominic ...

, where she is the chair emeritus of the communications department. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Arukah Animal International, an organization which aims to put an end to animal exploitation and suffering through advocacy, awareness, and the arts.

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, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

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 {{DEFAULTSORT:Beals, Melba Pattillo 1941 births Living people Congressional Gold Medal recipients Little Rock Nine Writers from Little Rock, Arkansas 20th-century American women journalists 20th-century American journalists African-American women journalists African-American journalists San Francisco State University alumni Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni