Choices Students Made in Little Rock: Reading Set 3

Explore the readings in this set:

• Minnijean Brown and the Chili Incident
• The Treatment Jefferson Thomas Endured at Little Rock Central High
• Where Carlotta Walls LaNier Found Solace

Minnijean Brown and the Chili Incident

In this excerpt, Melba Pattillo Beals describes an incident that occurred in the cafeteria during lunch. 

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  

The Treatment Jefferson Thomas Endured at Little Rock Central High

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

One day after class Jeff and Terrence Roberts were descending the stairs near the office of the Vice-Principal of Girls, Mrs. Elizabeth Huckaby. . . . Two boys met them midway on the stairs, knocked the books from their hands and kept moving.

As Jeff and Terrence stooped to pick up their scattered books, two other boys came up behind them and kicked them from the rear. Meanwhile, other boys started to play football, kicking the books around the floor. . . .

When the children reported these incidents to school authorities, they were told they would have to have an adult witness before any steps could be taken against the accused. 

Several days later Jeff was standing at his locker watching two boys who were clowning around, pushing and shoving each other, as they approached him. He kept an eye on them, suspecting that they might push one or the other into him. As he watched, two other boys came up behind him. One of them struck him such a brutal blow behind his ear that Jeff was rendered unconscious. One of the teachers heard him fall in the hallway and came outside.

After reviving him, the teacher took him to the principal’s office. I was notified of the attack, and I immediately called Clarence Laws, Southwest Regional Field Secretary for the NAACP. He drove out to the school and took Jeff to the doctor. After the doctor treated Jefferson, they came to my house. When I saw the size of the lump on the side of Jeff’s head I completely lost my temper. During my tirade against the school authorities for permitting this kind of cold-blooded cruelty to continue, I paused in front of Jeff, who sat huddled in a big chair. To my surprise he was smiling. This calmed me down somewhat. He said, “It’s near suppertime, I better be getting home.”

The next morning I telephoned his mother to inquire about his condition. She told me he felt better and that some of the swelling had left, but that the lump was still about the size of an egg.

Where Carlotta Walls LaNier Found Solace

In this except from her autobiography, Carlotta Walls-LaNier recalls how she protected herself from the bullying she and the Little Rock Nine endured throughout the 1957 school year. 

Class offered me solace, though. A whole new set of defense mechanisms was required there. The most common pranks usually involved my desk. A time or two, I plopped down in a puddle of spit or glue, only to look up and find several of my classmates doubled over with laughter. Humiliated, I just did what I could to wipe the stain from my clothes. But from then on, I quickly inspected my seat or ran my hand across it before sitting down. Some incidents I couldn’t prevent, like the flying spitballs, blown out through a short straw. They stung my face and neck repeatedly, and I refused to acknowledge it. At times I’d hear the sudden flick of a fountain pen, and before I could lean out of the way, a spurt of ink would ruin my clothes. I just added a change of clothes to my locker. But after the repeated break-ins of my locker, I started keeping my change of clothes in the office of Mrs. Huckaby, the vice principal . . .

By the end of each school day, the nine of us were exhausted. When we climbed into the car to head to the Bateses’ home, it was the first time of the day that all nine of us were together again, and we were happy to see one another. Some of the others shared stories about what had happened to them that day. Being teenagers, we usually found a way to laugh about it. I laughed with my comrades, but I rarely chimed in on the storytelling. I just didn’t want to relive any of it. Every ounce of energy I had left, I needed for homework. Sometimes, when one of us had experienced a particularly tough day, the car would fall silent. We’d notice a pair of watery eyes, and we knew. Every one of us just knew. ³

• 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), 125–26.
• 3Carlotta Walls LaNier, A Mighty Long Way (Adapted for Young Readers): My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School (New York: Delacorte Press, 2023), 107–12.