Melba Pattillo Beals
Melba Joy Patillo Beals (née Pattillo; born December 7, 1941) is an American journalist and educator who was a member of the Little Rock Nine, a group of black students who were the first to racially integrate Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Melba Pattillo Beals
Career[edit]
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.[5] To date, Warriors Don't Cry continues to be a #1 Amazon bestseller in the "Teen & Young Adult Nonfiction on Prejudice" genre.[6]
In 1959, the NAACP awarded the Spingarn Medal to Beals and to the other members of the Little Rock Nine, 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. Only three hundred others have received this.[7]
She taught journalism at Dominican University of California, where she is the chair emeritus of the communications department.[8]
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.[9]
Personal life[edit]
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.[10][11] Beals resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.