2009; 273 pages. Full Title: A
Mighty Long Way – My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School. New Author? : Yes. Genres
: Civil Rights; American History; Non-Fiction;
Black and African-American Biographies. Overall
Rating: 9*/10.
I am old enough to remember watching on TV the
struggles to integrate schools in the Deep South. The one that remains etched in my mind is
George Wallace, then governor of Alabama, standing on the steps of a building,
presumably on the University of Alabama campus, impeding black students, who were being escorted
by federal troops, from entering therein. Bloodshed loomed in my 12-year-old brain.
But before push came to shove, and
after giving a short segregationist speech, Wallace moved aside. Shooting and other assorted violence were
averted, at least while the national cameras were capturing the moment. The students walked through the doors.
But I’ve always wondered: What was it like for those black students, and those who integrated other schools throughout the South, on
the second day of school, or a week later, or when the next semester rolled around? What harassment did they did they suffer through when all the
cameras, troops, and news crews were no longer present?
Thanks to A Mighty Long Way, I have an answer.
What’s To Like...
Carlotta Walls LaNier is one of the “Little
Rock Nine”, a group of high school age black students that took the first steps
in integrating the Arkansas educational system in 1957. I was just seven years old at the time and
frankly I don’t remember it at all. A Mighty Long Way is Carlotta’s memoir about the
experience and how it impacted her life for many decades to come.
There are 17 chapters plus a prologue in the book. They can be roughly divided into:
1.)
Prologue + Chs. 1-3: Family history and early life.
2.)
Chs. 4-9: High school years and Integration.
3.)
Chs. 10-11: The house-bombing.
4.)
Chs. 12-14: High school graduation and
college years.
5.)
Chs. 14-17: Post-collegiate Life.
It should come as no surprise
that Carlotta’s traumatic 10th grade year (some of the other Little Rock Nine were 11th and 12th
graders) had a profound effect on the rest of her life. It did surprise me, however, that for many years
afterward, she avoided mentioning her role in the integration movement and
turned down all requests to speak at schools, churches, and other public
events about it.
The “Jackie Robinson test” was
enlightening, and I was in awe of Carlotta’s meeting the Rev. Martin Luther
King, Jr. I enjoyed her (and my) grade-school memories of eagerly awaiting the Weekly
Reader to be passed out, and I had to look up what the rules were to the card game “pitty-pat”.
I cringed when she had to endure being spat upon, cursed at and shoved
in the high school halls while going to classes, and shuddered when she gave
the details of the lynching of Emmett Till.
The dynamite-bombing of her family’s home and the relentless and
untraceable telephone hate calls made me realize that integrating someplace in
the South meant risking your life, as well as your family’s.
The book closes on a high
note: Barack Obama’s election to the presidency in 2008. Carlotta sees it as a culmination of the
Civil Rights movement, and one she never expected to see in her lifetime. Even if she did favor Hillary Clinton early
in the campaign.
Ratings…
Amazon: 4.7*/5, based on 540 ratings
and 70 reviews.
Goodreads: 4.14*/5,
based on 1,365
ratings and 204 reviews
Kewlest New Word ...
She-Ro (n.) : a woman regarded as a hero.
Excerpts...
It never occurred to me as I grew up to
question, even in my mind, why colored folks could go to the park only on
certain days, why we had to climb to the back of the bus, or why stopping at a
gas station to use the bathroom in most areas of the South wasn’t even an
option. Those were just the rules, and I
learned to follow them like I learned to walk, by observing those closest to me
and following their guidance until I knew the steps well enough to venture out
on my own. (loc. 340)
Wherever I go to talk to students, I
usually encounter some who know little or nothing about the Little Rock
Nine. Sometimes they’re African American. Sometimes they’re white, Latino, or
Asian. But when they hear my story,
often they get angry, like the white kid whose hand went up slowly in the back
of the room after my first speech at Ponderosa High School in a Denver suburb
many years ago.
“Why am I just learning this?” he
asked. “Why haven’t I learned this in
school before now?” (loc.
3984)
That is the point
of this book: to show that determination, fortitude, and the ability to move
the world aren’t reserved for the “special” people. (loc. 128)
There’s not much to quibble
about in A Mighty Long Way. I counted just 7 cusswords in the entire
book, and those were mostly when she was quoting somebody. There is of course a slew of instances where
she has to endure the N-word being screamed at her, but that was to be
expected.
There’s also a lot of name-dropping
of people she met. To name a few:
Thelonius Monk (and many other jazz musicians), Thurgood Marshall,
Satchel Paige, Langston Hughes, Herb Adderley, and Bill & Hillary
Clinton. But those encounters rang true, particularly the stone-throwing incident in Central Park, and it was kinda
neat to see all the celebrities she rubbed shoulders with over the course of
her life.
I spotted only two typos – mid
wester/midwestern and fifty-two-hundred/fifty-two hundred. Kudos to the editors and proofreaders. The book cover lists it as being written “with Lisa
Frazier Page”, and the Foreword is by President Bill Clinton. In Chapter 8 there are some family pictures
of Carlotta and her kin. Those were extremely heartwarming.
9 Stars. We live in an age where book-banning has once again become commonplace, and teachers, whether they are mentoring elementary school students or collegians, risk being fired for revealing what really occurred during critical moments in America's History. Desegregation was an ugly time for the United States, but sweeping it under the carpet just makes it worse. Thank goodness there are books like A Mighty Long Way, which tell the facts about the American Civil Rights movement, even if it is a harsh awakening.
