Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals 

One of the nine black teenagers who integrated Little Rock's Central High School in 1957 here recounts that traumatic year with drama and detail. Beals, who is now a communications consultant, relies on her own diary from that era and notes made by her English teacher mother--as well as dubiously recreated dialogue--to tell not only of the ugly harassment she was subjected to but also of the impressive dignity of a 15-year-old forced to grow up fast. Arkansas governor Orval Faubus set the tone of the time by resisting integration until a federal judge ordered it.

Although Beals was assigned a federal soldier for protection, the young integrationist was still attacked and prevented from engaging in school activities. She recalls stalwart black friends like Minniejean, who was suspended, and a white classmate who surreptitiously kept her informed of the segregationists' tactics. Beals looks back on her Little Rock experiences as "ultimately a positive force" that shaped her life. "The task that remains," she concludes, "is to cope with our interdependence." 

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