Book

Teaching Warriors Don't Cry

Use this guide to Melba Pattillo Beals' memoir about the desegregation of Little Rock High School to develop literacy skills and teach about the civil rights movement.

Subject

History
Social Studies

Language

English — US

Updated

September 26, 2022

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Teaching Warriors Don't Cry

ISBN: 978-1-940457-24-6

Date of Publication: December 2017

Melba Pattillo Beals was one of nine African American students chosen to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. Teaching “Warriors Don’t Cry” interweaves a literary analysis of Melba’s memoir with an exploration of the relevant historical context surrounding her experience.

Format: Print Book

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About this Book

This guide provides engaging activities, teaching strategies, and recommended media to structure your students' reading of the memoir. Throughout their study, students will return the central questions: What can we do, alone and with others, to confront racism? How can we as individuals and as citizens make a positive difference in our school, community, and nation?

This guide is part of Witnesses to History, a series that helps students access the past through the voices of real people recalling experiences from their youth.

Lesson

Students explore the strategies, risks, and historical significance of the 1963 Chicago school boycott, while also considering bigger-picture questions about social progress.

Crowd fills LaSalle Street between City Hall and building housing Board of Education as hundreds of demonstrators marched in Chicago on Oct. 22, 1963 following a one-day boycott of public schools.

Lesson

Students learn about the debate within the women’s rights movement over the passage of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments.

Five black women officers sitting for a portrait

Lesson

Students explore some of the limitations of Reconstruction's transformation on US democracy and learn about groups who demanded that the promise of equality be made a reality.

Seated portrait of women's voting rights advocate Susan B. Anthony.

Lesson

Students learn about the responses to Johnson’s policies by Republicans in Congress and examine the fourteenth amendment that overturned Presidential Reconstruction.

Photo of page 1 of the 14th amendment of the US Constitution

Lesson

Students reflect on the revolutionary changes that occurred because of the landmark legislation and amendments passed during the Reconstruction era.

A studio portrait shows African American members of the General Assembly from 1887 to 1888

Lesson

Students learn about the period of violence in the South from 1873-1876 and examine its role in influencing elections and ending Republican control of Southern state governments.

A picture of one hand holding down another hand on top of a gun and a pile of papers

Lesson

Students explore the legacies of the Reconstruction era today, reflect on the idea of democracy as a continuous process, and consider how they can best participate in the ongoing work of strengthening our democracy.

Demonstrators march down Pennsylvania Avenue with signs for Black Lives Matter

Lesson

Students learn about the violent responses to the transformation of US democracy that occurred as a result of Radical Reconstruction.

Black and white photo of the house committee

Lesson

Students examine the factors that led many northerners to turn against federal policies passed during the Reconstruction era that protected freedpeople.

A drawn picture of people crowding into the Fourth National Bank

Lesson

Students explore the supporting question "How should we remember the nation’s founding?"

Washington DC, Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Building Southwest Pavilion. The Library has had an ongoing exhibition entitled "Thomas Jefferson's Library", which presents the Library's efforts to completely recreate Thomas Jefferson's personal library. The exhibit is located on the Building's second floor in the Southwest Pavilion, called the Pavilion of the Discoverers due to the paintings and bas-reliefs that adorn the space.

Assessment

Students culminate their arc of inquiry into the US founding by completing a C3-aligned Summative Performance Task and Taking Informed Action.

Collection

Explore resources that meet the California History–Social Science Framework standards.

Four students sit in a circle in conversation. The student in the center speaks with their hands raised.

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Teaching Warriors Don't Cry

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Updated

Teaching Warriors Don't Cry

Purchase this Resource

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About this Book

Explore Other Witnesses to History Guides

You might also be interested in…

10 Questions for the Past: The 1963 Chicago Public Schools Boycott

The Struggle over Women’s Rights

Equality for All

Radical Reconstruction and the Birth of Civil Rights

Expanding Democracy

Political Violence and the Overthrow of Reconstruction

The Unfinished Revolution

Backlash and the KKK

Shifting Public Opinion

Supporting Question 4: Memory of the Founding

Summative Performance Task & Taking Informed Action

Resources for Civic Education in California

Teaching Warriors Don't Cry

Subject

Language

Updated

Teaching Warriors Don't Cry

Purchase this Resource

Download a PDF of This Free Book

About this Book

Media and Strategies for Teaching Warriors Don’t Cry

Explore Other Witnesses to History Guides

You might also be interested in…

10 Questions for the Past: The 1963 Chicago Public Schools Boycott

The Struggle over Women’s Rights

Equality for All

Radical Reconstruction and the Birth of Civil Rights

Expanding Democracy

Political Violence and the Overthrow of Reconstruction

The Unfinished Revolution

Backlash and the KKK

Shifting Public Opinion

Supporting Question 4: Memory of the Founding

Summative Performance Task & Taking Informed Action

Resources for Civic Education in California

Inspiration, insights, & ways to get involved