Choices Students Made in Little Rock: Reading Set 1

Explore the readings in this set: 

• Minnijean Brown and the Chili Incident
• Gloria Ray: “I Was So Frightened I Couldn’t Move”
• Melba Pattillo Beals on How Her Military Escort Saved Her Vision

Minnijean Brown and the Chili Incident

As always on Tuesday, the hot lunch was chili, which Minnijean loved. So while I took my seat with the others, she got in line to buy her chili. . . . As Minnijean made her way back toward us, her tray loaded down with a big bowl of chili, we saw her hesitate. She had to inch her way through a tight spot where mostly boys sat at tables on either side of her path. She had stopped dead in her tracks. We all froze, realizing she must be in trouble. We could see two boys near her—one directly in her path. Something awful was happening, but there was no way any of us could do anything to rescue her. We had been instructed that in such instances we were never to move toward the person in danger for fear of starting a riot.

I was panic-stricken. Minnijean was being hassled by those boys. Snickering among themselves and taunting her, they had pushed a chair directly in front of her. For a long moment, she stood there patiently, holding her tray high above their heads. 

As more and more people realized something was brewing, the chatter in the cafeteria quieted down. I could tell Minnijean was trapped and desperate, and very fast running out of patience. She was talking back to the boys in a loud voice, and there was jostling all around her . . . 

I beckoned to Minnijean to go around her hasslers, but she was standing perfectly still. It was as though she was in a trance, fighting within herself.

Later she would explain that the boys had been taunting her, sticking their feet in the aisle to trip her, kicking her, and calling her names. But we were not close enough to see details of the dilemma she faced. All we saw was her wavering as though she was trying to balance herself—and then her tray went flying, spilling chili all over two of the boys.

Everyone was stunned, silent for a long moment. Her attackers sat with astonished looks on their faces as greasy chili dropped down over their heads. All at once, our people who were serving food behind the counter began to applaud. This was greeted by an ominous silence and then loud voices, all chattering at once, as the chili-covered boys stood up. I wonder[ed] whether we’d ever get out of there alive. Suddenly a school official showed up, and Minnijean was whisked away, while we were hustled out of the cafeteria. ¹

Gloria Ray: “I Was So Frightened I Couldn’t Move”

Daisy Bates was the Little Rock Nine’s main advocate during the 1957 school year. In her memoir, Bates recounts Gloria Ray’s experience at Central High School. ²

Although Gloria was subjected to a certain amount of physical abuse, the attacks on her were mostly of a psychological nature. A few days before the Christmas holidays, a girl sitting next to her in her homeroom told her that she had heard that some of the boys had guns in school that day. Later, Gloria was walking down the corridor of the second floor when torpedoes, a type of firecracker, started exploding around her.

She said that afternoon, “When I heard the first explosion, I was so frightened I couldn’t move. I was sure they were shooting at me.” She added, “I saw the guardsmen take a boy who was dropping the torpedoes to the principal’s office.”

The next day a boy attempted to lasso Gloria with a rope fashioned into a hangman’s noose. The threat to hang Gloria was followed by a phone call to her mother that evening. The unidentified caller told Mrs. Ray, “If Gloria comes to school tomorrow there will be a lynching.”

The psychological and physical attacks continued in the vain effort to break the spirit of the students. Under these attacks the seeds of freedom that were planted deep in the hearts of these youngsters began to sprout, grow, and develop into a force that was to have far-reaching effects in the continuing struggle for first-class citizenship.

Melba Pattillo Beals on How Her Military Escort Saved Her Vision

Each of the Little Rock Nine was assigned a soldier to escort them to class. In this excerpt, Melba Pattillo Beals describes how Danny, her military escort, saved her vision. 

I was walking down a dimly lit hallway, with Danny following, when I spotted a boy coming directly toward me on a collision course. I tried to move aside, but he moved with me. I didn’t even have time to call for help. 

They boy flashed a shiny black object in my face. The sudden pain in my eyes was so intense, so sharp, I thought I’d die. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before. I couldn’t hear or see or feel anything except that throbbing, searing fire centered in my eyes. I heard myself cry out as I let go of everything to clutch at my face.

Someone grabbed me by my ponytail and pulled me along very fast. . . . The pain of being dragged along by my hair was almost as intense as that in my eyes. Hands grabbed my wrists and pried my hands from my face . . . then cold, cold liquid was splashed in my eyes. The water felt so good. My god, thank you! The pain was subsiding. 

“Easy, girl, easy. You’re gonna be fine.” It was Danny’s voice. His hands holding my head and dousing my eyes with water.

“I can’t see,” I whispered. “I can’t see.”

“Hold on. You will.”

Over and over again, the cold water flooded my face. . . . Bit by bit I could see the sleeve of Danny’s uniform. . . . The awful pain in my eyes had turned into a bearable sting . . .

“What was that?” 

“I don’t know,” Danny said, “maybe some kind of alkaline or acid. The few drops that got on your blouse faded the color immediately. Hey, let’s get you to the office so we can report this . . . ”

“No. No,” I protested.

“Why not?”

“School’s almost over, I wanna go home, right now. Please, please don’t make me . . . ” I felt tears. I knew he hated me to cry, but the thought of going to the office made me crazy. I couldn’t handle having some hostile clerk telling me I was making mountains out of molehills.

“Calm down. You can do what you want but—”

“No, home right now,” I said, cutting Danny off.

A short time later, an optometrist examined my eyes and studied the spots on my blouse. . . . As I sat there in the dark, I heard him say, “Whoever kept that water going in her eyes saved the quality of her sight, if not her sight itself . . . ”

• 1Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors Don’t Cry (New York: Simon Pulse, 1994), 148–50.
• 2Daisy Bates, The Long Shadow of Little Rock: A Memoir (New York: Van Rees Press, 1962), 141–42.