Read the excerpt from Warriors Don't Cry."Then you don't have anything to be concerned about." Mother Lois maneuvered through the unusually heavy traffic. "I don't know where all the cars could have come from," she said. We both craned our necks, curious about all the unfamiliar cars and people. Certainly there had never before been so many white people driving down the streets of our quiet, tree-lined neighborhood.
Read the introduction.I support the purchase of streetlights for our community. My young sons enjoy riding their skateboards in the street in the evening, but darkness makes this a reckless undertaking, even with reflective gear. Further, our family has contributed dues to the neighborhood association for nearly ten years, and no structural improvements have been made during this time. The association has money saved for projects such as these, and it is time to use these funds to promote safety.
Read the excerpt from Warriors Don't Cry.Being together in those classes, the nine of us were developing a true friendship—becoming closer knit than we might have been under other circumstances. We talked about our fears, what we missed at our old school, and our hopes that the integration issues would soon be resolved. While I regretted the friendships I was losing, I cherished the growing ties to the eight.
Read the excerpt of President’s Eisenhower’s words from Warriors Don't Cry.IKE SAYS HE WILL USE LAW.TELLS FAUBUS: COOPERATE WITH US"The federal Constitution will be upheld by every legal means at my command," President Eisenhower had told Governor Faubus. The President had sent a telegram to Governor Faubus saying he was sure the governor, the National Guard, and other state officials would give full cooperation to the United States Supreme Court.
Read the introduction.Voter participation is the cornerstone of a democratic society, and America’s young people should seize this privilege as soon as they are able. Some youth wait until a presidential election year or until confronted with a compelling political issue. Instead, everyone ought to register on his or her eighteenth birthday and embrace this rite of passage into adulthood.
Read the excerpt from Warriors Don't Cry.The next day, in the Sunday paper, I saw a pitiful closeup photograph of Elizabeth, walking alone in front of Central on that first day of integration. It pained my insides to see, once again, the twisted, scowling white faces with open mouths jeering, clustered about my friend's head like bouquets of grotesque flowers. It was an ad paid for by a white man from a small town in Arkansas. "If you live in Arkansas," the ad read, "study this picture and know shame. When hate is unleashed and bigotry finds a voice, God help us all."I felt a kind of joy and hope in the thought that one white man was willing to use his own money to call attention to the injustice we were facing. Maybe the picture would help others realize that what they were doing was hurting everybody.
Read the excerpt from Warriors Don't Cry.The voice on the radio grew more urgent as the announcer described the ranks of Arkansas National Guardsmen who ringed Central High School. Hearing the news as we drew near our destination, Mother said, "I think I’ll park here. The meeting place is quite a ways away, but from the looks of things we won't get any closer."
Read the excerpt from President Eisenhower’s address on September 24, 1957.In that city, under the leadership of demagogic extremists, disorderly mobs have deliberately prevented the carrying out of proper orders from a Federal Court. Local authorities have not eliminated that violent opposition and, under the law, I yesterday issued a Proclamation calling upon the mob to disperse.
Read the excerpt from Warriors Don't Cry.As hard as I tried not to care, I couldn’t start my morning without knowing what the governor, his National Guard, and the school board were up to. I had to face the awful truth. Grandma was right, I was letting those people determine how I felt, and how I lived a great part of my day.
Read the excerpt from President Eisenhower’s State of the Union address on February 2, 1953.A cardinal ideal in this heritage we cherish is the equality of rights of all citizens of every race and color and creed.We know that discrimination against minorities persists despite our allegiance to this ideal. Such discrimination—confined to no one section of the Nation—is but the outward testimony to the persistence of distrust and of fear in the hearts of men.This fact makes all the more vital the fighting of these wrongs by each individual, in every station of life, in his every deed . . .I propose to use whatever authority exists in the office of the President to end segregation in the District of Columbia, including the Federal Government, and any segregation in the Armed Forces.
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