Warriors Don't Cry (Abridged): Chapter 15–Epilogue

by Melba Pattillo Beals
In 1957, Melba Pattillo was one of a group of teenagers who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. In this abridged version of her memoir, she describes her fight to survive and thrive in the sometimes violent aftermath of the Supreme Court decision that declared segregation unconstitutional.

Here are links to our lists for the memoir: Time Brings About a Change–Chapter 5, Chapters 6–9, Chapters 10–14, Chapter 15–Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. careen
    move sideways or in an unsteady way
    The car careened into our yard.
  2. shun
    avoid and stay away from deliberately
    There had always been a wide path of empty chairs immediately surrounding our eating area because other students shunned us during the lunch period.
  3. hodgepodge
    a motley assortment of things
    Even above the ear-shattering levels of conversation that blended into a hodgepodge of unsettling noise, I could hear my attackers’ comments shouted at me.
  4. retaliate
    make a counterattack and return like for like
    With all those other students seated close enough to watch what was going on, my attackers would want it to appear that I made the first move, forcing them to retaliate.
  5. catastrophe
    an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
    Sometimes he justified what he was doing by saying if he protected me and prevented a major catastrophe from befalling any of the eight of us, he could insure some of his normal graduation activities, and besides, people wouldn’t think Central such an awful place.
  6. belligerent
    characteristic of an enemy or one eager to fight
    The Little Rock School Board now demanded belligerent students be brought under control.
  7. hearten
    give encouragement to
    At first we saw no difference, but we began to notice a slight bit of peace in the hallways, and we were heartened to hear that another girl had been expelled for handing out the cards saying “One Down, Eight to Go.”
  8. indignant
    angered at something unjust or wrong
    “The reason I’m attending Central is so I don’t have to spend my life being somebody’s nanny,” I said in a tone to match his indignant manner.
  9. vicarious
    experienced at secondhand
    I felt a vicarious delight just being near the excitement.
  10. dispense
    administer or bestow, as in small portions
    Sign-carrying, card-dispensing, tripping, kicking crusaders revved up their efforts to reduce our number to zero.
  11. lather
    agitation resulting from active worry
    It seemed as though whenever I reported anything to her, she would work herself up into a lather
  12. dismal
    causing dejection
    The neighborhood got more and more dismal. It was a part of town where our people lived in awful, run-down chicken-shack houses, some in such bad condition that they looked as though they’d fall down any moment.
  13. makeshift
    done or made using whatever is available
    The tiny, bare shack was spotlessly clean. It was one room with a makeshift bathroom in plain view.
  14. emaciated
    very thin, especially from disease or hunger or cold
    Suddenly her emaciated body was racked with a cough.
  15. staple
    a necessary commodity for which demand is constant
    Mother didn’t want to plead for any more credit at the grocery store, so the cupboards held a sparse supply of staples.
  16. mull
    reflect deeply on a subject
    As we sat mulling over our fate, I realized that the segregationists had taken away the one thing we couldn’t do without—Mama’s job.
  17. adversary
    someone who offers opposition
    Some of our regular adversaries complained loud and long about how the inclusion of some of our pictures had tainted their precious yearbook.
  18. snippet
    a small piece of anything
    We continued to hear snippets of the fancy plans for Central students to have fun during the final weeks of the school year, plans that we could only speculate about.
  19. ordeal
    a severe or trying experience
    I had watched her go through the awkward ordeal of phoning news people.
  20. grueling
    characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion
    As we faced days of grueling punishment, I was also coping with the fact that despite the newspaper article, we had heard no word from the North Little Rock school administrators about Mama’s job.
  21. rile
    disturb, especially by minor irritations
    Now you’ve gone and riled up the bishops from your community.
  22. accolade
    a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction
    “I assume your accolades will be forthcoming in writing,” Mama replied.
  23. baccalaureate
    an academic degree on completion of undergraduate studies
    “None of you will be allowed to attend either the graduation commencement or the baccalaureate service,” Mother Lois announced over dinner.
  24. accomplish
    achieve with effort
    This is no time to satisfy a whim and unravel everything you’ve accomplished.
  25. unravel
    become undone
    But by late June, even as Minnijean and I were whirling about our hotel room, dressing to see Johnny Mathis, a man we thought of as a deity, Little Rock school integration was unraveling.
  26. bounty
    payment or reward for acts such as catching criminals
    The unrest in Little Rock and the bounty on our heads had by that time forced two of our seven families to move their homes away from that city forever.
  27. tenacious
    stubbornly unyielding
    Not until September, 1960, did the NAACP, with its tenacious legal work, force Central High to open to integration once more—but only two black students were permitted entry.
  28. enclave
    an enclosed territory that is culturally distinct
    In 1962, when I had attended the mostly white San Francisco State University for two years, I found myself living among an enclave of students where I was the only person of color.
  29. endure
    put up with something or somebody unpleasant
    As I held the cinnamon-colored bundle with auburn hair and doelike eyes in my arms, I swore she would never have to endure the racial prejudices I endured.
  30. livid
    furiously angry
    He was livid about my marriage, saying I’d all along told him we couldn’t date because he was white, and now look what I’d gone and done.
  31. ravage
    a destructive action
    When forgotten people feel compelled to riot in Los Angeles, we share their pain through our TV screens, and their ravages impact our emotional and economic health.
  32. tedious
    so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness
    The stone steps are slippery with morning drizzle as we begin the tedious climb up to the front door of Central High School.
  33. alumnus
    a person who has received a degree from a school
    It is the first time in thirty years that we nine black alumni have entered this school together.
  34. pomp
    cheap or pretentious or vain display
    And yet all this pomp and circumstance and the presence of my eight colleagues does not numb the pain I feel at entering Central High School, a building I remember only as a hellish torture chamber.
  35. camaraderie
    the quality of affording easy familiarity and sociability
    Our relationships with one another and the joy of our camaraderie have not changed.
  36. relish
    derive or receive pleasure from
    We have both relished and dreaded this moment when we would again walk up these stairs.
  37. sprawl
    the disorganized spread of development beyond city limits
    Today I could not find my way around its newly built freeways, its thriving industrial complexes, its racially mixed, upscale suburban sprawl.
  38. quip
    make jokes or witty remarks
    “If we had it to do again, we’d do the same,” Terry quips.
  39. impeccable
    without error or flaw
    A black teenager impeccably dressed in morning coat and bow tie emerges.
  40. noble
    having high or elevated character
    “Good morning. I am Derrick Noble, president of the student body. Welcome to Central High School.”
Created on Mon May 18 20:51:21 EDT 2015 (updated Wed Oct 16 11:19:01 EDT 2019)

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