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A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School

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When Carlotta Walls of Little Rock, AR was 8 years old she had a life changing experience. The year was 1951 and Carlotta's parents Cartelyou and Juanita Walls decided it would be a good idea for their young daughter to spend her summer vacation visiting an aunt in New York City. It was a thrilling experience for young Carlotta. She visited Radio City Music Hall, saw a ballgame at Ebbets Field, and paid a visit to the Statue of Liberty. Perhaps more important than any of these experiences she befriended a young white boy by the name of Francis. Such a relationship was simply out of the question in her hometown of Little Rock. When young Carlotta packed her bags and returned to Little Rock in the waning days of August she was no longer the same little girl. Through her experiences that summer she suddenly realized that every place was not like the Jim Crow South that she and her family existed in. She could not have known it at the time but her new worldview would have a profound impact on a monumental decision she would make just a few years later.

In the 1954 decision "Brown v. Board of Education" the U.S. Supreme Court declared that "all laws establishing segregated schools to be unconstitutional" and furthermore ordered the desegregation of all schools throughout the nation. By the time the State of Arkansas got around to complying with the Supreme Court ruling it was 1957. Governor Orval Faubus was a self proclaimed segregationist who fought integration tooth and nail from the get-go. He was not happy about but plans were moving forward to integrate the schools including Little Rock Central High School. Nine courageous young black students registered to attend Little Rock Central High in the fall of 1957. One of them was Carlotta Walls. "A Mighty Long Way: My Journey To Justice At Little Rock Central High School" is Carlotta Walls LaNier's gripping first person narrative of the historic and painful events that took place in Little Rock back in 1957 and the effect that the experience would have on the rest of her life. It is a compelling story.

While reading Carlotta's gut wrenching account of her days at Little Rock Central High one cannot not help but feel empathy for this smart, courageous and determined young lady. Carlotta and her 8 comrades put everything on the line in order to advance the cause of integration in her hometown. But I don't believe that any of these youngsters had any idea what they were up against. As is made clear in the pages of "A Mighty Long Way" the odds were clearly against them. The political establishment in Arkansas would do everything in their power to obstruct the process. Ultimately, President Dwight Eisenhower would be forced to send in federal troops to take control of the situation. It was an ugly time in Little Rock. Racial epithets were flying everywhere and the threat of violence lurked around every corner . One wonders how these young people garnered the courage to face this situation. Indeed, not all of them would make it to graduation.

After much heartache and pain Carlotta Walls did manage to graduate from Central Little Rock High in June of 1960. The very next day she left Little Rock and never looked back. She was tired of the notoriety and controversy and just wanted a fresh start elsewhere. She had never sought the spotlight. "A Mighty Long Way: My Journey To Justice At Little Rock Central High School" goes on to tell the rest of Carlotta's fascinating life story. Although she went to great lengths to put the events of her past behind her Carlotta would eventually have to come to terms with it. One cannot help but admire what Carlotta and the rest of the group that history would dub "The Little Rock Nine" would ultimately achieve. I found "A Mighty Long Way" to be a terrific read. Recommended.

A Mighty Long Way is one of the best books I've received through the Vine program. Carlotta Walls was one of the original Little Rock 9: the first nine teenagers who dared to enroll at Little Rock's premier high school. She describes her experience in a simple, straightforward style, which ironically makes her story even more shocking than it might otherwise.

It's hard to imagine many teenagers who would handle themselves as well as Carlotta did. Every day was torture. She didn't just dodge insults; she dealt with physical harassment. Kids would knock her books over, then kick her when she bent to get them. A female student stepped on her heels, drawing blood. Through it all, Carlotta held firm. She didn't cry. Occasionally she reported instances of misconduct. But mostly, after the troopers left, she was on her own.

Carlotta's family supported her decision at great personal sacrifice. The community helped; I hadn't realized how much the NAACP was involved. The school kept closing when the governor would rather have no schools than integrated schools.

Carlotta and her friends sacrificed a large part of their teenage years. Forbidden to attend after-school activities, she joined some events at Mann, were African-Aemricans were welcome.

The most moving part of the book comes at the end, when the Little Rock 9 finally get recognition. Carlotta returns for an anniversary in Little Rock, where the president and Mike Huckabee (a very different governor from Faubus, she notes) hold the doors while she enters Central High. Later she watches Barack Obama win the election. Because she bravely walked up the steps of Central High, she says, now Barack and his family can walk up the White Hosue steps.

It's hard to believe the Little Rock events took place in 1957 - just over 50 years ago. When Carlotta returned for her reunion, the student body president of Central High School is African American.

A Mighty Long Way is hard to put down. It's a painful story yet Carlotta never loses optimism. She gets breaks (especially after her first year, when she wins a scholarship to camp). She travels and meets some very famous people. Because you had to be truly outstanding to get into those college
(especially if you were African-American), Carlotta makes some pretty amazing friends, from pro football players to politicians.

What would happened if the Little Rock 9 had refused to play their part? What if they had all escaped to California, New York or the Midwest? Central would eventually have been integrated, but the process would have taken years. All nine students have enjoyed exceptional success.

This book should be required reading for America history classes in high sc hool and college.

This book touched me deeply, and at times I had to stop reading because of the tears in my eyes as I read this very personal tale of a black teen-ager integrating Central High School in Little Rock Arkansas in 1957. It was all the more poignant because I remember these events, and I also remember reading about the ordeal of one of the nine teen-agers, Minnijean, in a magazine picture story at the time. I remember reading that the white kids threw hot soup on Minnijean, and this was just one of many indignities that these young civil right pioneers had to endure. Minnijean was later expelled for fighting back against her harassers. These teen-agers had gone where they were not wanted, but where they had a right to be. The Supreme Court declared that "separate but equal" did not satisfy the law; separate was inherently unequal. All-white schools had to admit black students.

I am a white woman, a few years younger than the author, who grew up in Flint, Michigan. Flint was a segregated city and, in the early 1950s, my family moved from our home, along with all of our neighbors, because a black family had moved onto our block. This was mainly instigated by the real estate people who would move in a black family and then urge the white people to sell their homes (this was known as "block busting"). I never met any black people until high school, when I volunteered at a home for the aged, and worked beside the kitchen staff who were all black. In those days, there were black neighborhoods and white neighborhoods, and segregation in housing and schools was the norm. I wonder how many younger people really understand this?

What stood out for me in reading this book was the innocence of Carlotta as she quietly decided that she would take the opportunity offered by the Brown vs. Board of Eduction Supreme Court decision, and the emphasis on getting a good education imparted to her by her parents. She was not looking to be an example, a pioneer, or a symbol. She just wanted to go to the best school available, and that was Central. The fact that it was also close to home for her is a bit different from the situation we had in the North, where the black neighborhoods tended to be distant from where white people lived, and there was not much mingling of black and white.

In the North, school integration was accomplished mainly with busing - putting black kids on a bus each morning and taking them to the white school, and sending some of the white kids to the black school. I well remember the many signs in windows in suburban Detroit areas reading "This Family Will Not be Bused." The court had ordered cross-district busing because Detroit was a nearly all-black city; there were too few white kids in the city for Detroit-only busing to accomplish much. Cross-district busing never happened though and Detroit schools have been nearly all black ever since, although Detroit's suburbs have achieved substantial integration.

Sometimes the kids in the author's neighborhood, where black and white families lived in closer proximity, managed to ignore the norms of segregation. She describes white kids joining the black kids to make up enough players for baseball games. Her family members were big baseball fans and took great pride in Jackie Robinson, as he became the first black major league baseball player. The author had been active in sports too, but was not allowed to take part in any extracurricular activities at Central. She gave up a lot and suffered continual torment from many of the white students. Most of them simply ignored her, but a few did reach out in small ways to the black students.

Not all of the author's teachers thought going to Central was a good idea, when she first chose to do so. Her teachers at the all-black school were well-qualified and felt some disappointment in losing good students to the white school. They also understood far better than did their naive students, what they might be facing. The white community overwhelmingly opposed integration and the governor, the notorious Orval Faubus (yes, I remember him), refused to carry out the court's order. It finally took federal troops walking with each of the students up the school steps, and a soldier staying with each student throughout the day, to keep them safe enough to attend classes at Central. These students faced confrontations with angry mobs, but found the courage to continue. It would take many years and many changed hearts and minds -- coming "a mighty long way" -- to journey towards a society that is color-blind in education, housing, employment and our every-day lives.

The author ends the book with her observations about the election of Barack Obama, which she says she did not see coming. Neither did I. It didn't really hit me until the day after his election as President. I was standing in my kitchen thinking about all those civil rights rallies I had attended as a young college student at Wayne State University in Detroit, which always ended with all of us (black and white) holding hands and singing "We Shall Overcome." I suddenly realized that this election meant we had succeeded. We had overcome. I started to cry, and the tears kept coming the whole way to work. Later, an old friend from Wayne State told me she had the same reaction and had also cried the day after the election.

I highly recommend "A Mighty Long Way" to everyone who wants to know more about the the real history of America. The book is well-written, with a complete account of what happened at Central High School in the late 1950s, and a nice update on the students who made history, even though all they wanted was to get a good education.

In 1957, nine courageous African American students enrolled in Central High School, Little Rock, Arkansas as part of an effort to implement the Supreme Court's landmark desegregation ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. The story of the Little Rock Nine, the abuse they endured, the endless legal machinations, the hostile crowds and mobs who attempted to block their entry has been told many times in print and in the media. But this new book, "A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School" offers an irreplaceably intimate account of Little Rock. The author, Carlotta Walls Lanier, was the youngest member of the Little Rock Nine. She enrolled in Central as a sophomore in 1957-1958, studied elsewhere in 1958-1959 when Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus closed the High Schools in Little Rock, and completed her senior year and graduated in 1959-1960. Walls was one of only three members of the Little Rock Nine to graduate. In this book, Walls, with the assistance of editor and reporter Lisa Frazer Page, tells her story.

Simplicity and sincerity come through in Walls's memoir. She does not dwell abstractly on the legal and political maneuvers that would be found in a historical account of the Little Rock confrontation. Walls focuses instead on what happened to her and to her family and friends. She allows the reader to see her feelings, fears, and hopes, and how they changed over the years. This is a deeply personal account. Walls sets the stage with an effective discussion of her family and of her decision to attend Little Rock Central. She captures the fear of running the gauntlet of a large mob, even after President Eisenhower called out the Federal troops. Most compellingly, Walls describes the torment she endured in the school from many of the students, the spitting, violence, and name-calling. I came to understand what Walls in a spirit of quiet heroism had to suffer.

During Walls's senior year at Central, the family home was dynamited. Walls's father was brought in for questioning and beaten by the police. A young friend of the family was convicted of the crime, and Walls argues persuasively that he was innocent. She persevered through graduation, and left Little Rock immediately upon receiving her diploma.

Walls experienced a difficult time in settling down and finding a path in her life at Michigan State and then in Denver. Ultimately she graduated from college, made a happy marriage, had two children, and established a successful career in real estate. For nearly 30 years, Walls would not talk about Little Rock or disclose that she had been one of the Little Rock Nine, even to her husband. With reunions of the Little Rock Nine in 1987 and with the passage of time, Walls became more open with herself and with others in discussing her youthful experience at Little Rock Central. Her discussions in the book of her changes in attitude with time, from the events of 1957-1960, to the long intervening years of silence, and to Walls's current activities as a writer, speaker, and chairman of the Little Rock Nine Foundation themselves reveal a great deal about her experience and her reaction to it.

There is a great deal in the book about friendship, music, college life and dating, and sports. Walls also shows the reader much excellent characterization of her family. We get a three-dimensional portrayal of the author over time of the sort that would not be found in a historical study.

Portions of this book capture the chilling immediacy that Walls faced in 1957, and portions show these events in memory 50 years later. We get an individualized view of a pervasive situation. This is a moving book that undoubtedly will receive a great deal of attention. It will help bring to life for many people the struggle for justice in Little Rock.

Robin Friedman

I read several of the Little Rock Nine memoirs in the past, but the most recent on the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas by Carlotta Walls Lanier, A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School, was like looking into the history of these events for the first time. Part memoir, part historical and social commentary, the youngest of the nine at 14 years-old, Walls Lanier was forever changed by the events that occurred in 1957. Raised in a loving, middle-class home, she was supported by her extended family, church and community in her quest for unconditional educational. But she was so traumatized by the ordeal that it took 30 years to come to grips of it all.

Walls Lanier left Little Rock in 1960 and moved to Denver, Colorado, as did her immediate family after the bombing of her home. She was a bright, ambitious, intelligent young lady, who just wanted access to the best education possible to secure the future she felt she deserved, yet there were thousands of people who tried to take that basic right away from her. And why? Because they were threatened by the color of her skin and threatened that their way of life as they knew it would be changed. Arkansas' Governor Faubus was determined to keep the six girls and three boys from entering Central High by calling out the National Guard. Angry white parents taunted, threw things, berated these youngsters, their faces full of hate. But Daisy Bates, a journalist and activist who was born in my mother's hometown of Huttig, was unafraid of standing up to the white establishment that dared violate these young people's rights to an education as mandated by the 1954 Brown vs. the Board of Education ruling. She sheperded these young people into the history books and in the path of danger.

These children, because that is what the Little Rock nine were, endured physical and mental abuse at the hands of their white peers; with little support from the teachers and administration. The following school year, rather than integrate, whites managed to close all of the high schools, causing students to scramble for alternatives for their education. Walls Lanier use correspondence school and went out-of-state for awhile to attend high school. All because the fears of the white citizens of Little Rock were based on some archaic, distorted notion of the mixing of the races.

This past summer I visited Little Rock, along with my mother, sister and niece as part of our family reunion in the southern part of Arkansas. It is a much different city then it was in 1957. You would never have known this was formerly a Jim Crow city. We spent a lot of the time visiting and reliving the history of that city. We visited Central High and the majestic school's architecture is amazing. Lanier Walls gives the history of how this school came to be built and why she so wanted to attend. Earlier this year, monuments were erected to the Little Rock nine on the Capitol grounds.

I recommend this book to students of the Civil Rights movement and also to young people to make them aware of the sacrifices made by African-American children and adults whose values for education were high priority after God and family.

This advanced reading copy was provided courtesy of the Vine program through Amazon.com.

Dera R. Williams
APOOO BookClub

History tells a story as well as revisits events that leave a lasting impression on those who study the subject. For those who remember American history class in junior high or high school, Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas may have merely been a paragraph in the textbook. But I can recall the television movie "Crisis at Central High" with Joanne Woodward, which would further enhance my understanding of this part of history and conjure emotions. However, a movie can only do so much. And Carlotta Walls LaNier, one of the youngest members of the Little Rock Nine tells her moving story in A MIGHTY LONG WAY: MY JOURNEY TO JUSTICE AT LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL.

Only fourteen-years-old, Carlotta Walls's childhood before Little Rock was as innocent as any young girl's childhood during the 1950s. She lived the typical life of a young girl, somewhat a tomboy who loved to play baseball, laughing end enjoying time with her friends, family, and classmates. But September 25, 1957 would be no other day for Carlotta. Indeed, it would be a life changing moment frozen in history. Carlotta accounts her childhood leading up to that fateful day. However underneath it all, she lived during a time of social upheaval, Brown v. Board of Education and the shadows of Jim Crow laws in the South rearing its undesirable head. But several pivotal moments within her narrative show a young girl aware of what was happening, especially within every news headline that crossed her eyes pertaining to Emmett Till and Rosa Parks. It would be those unfortunate circumstances that would paint a lasting picture of irony in her mind as well as breathe a voice and appeal to end segregation, prejudice, and injustice towards African Americans within American society. But Carlotta would be a part of that process towards equality as she retells the days she entered Central High School confronted with cruelty and violence.

The book contains numerous incidences that depict the most daunting moments that Carlotta had to endure. Met with fiendish eyes and onlookers who did not believe she should go to the high school, being the center of attention was not what Carlotta had in mind, but with each taunt and spit in the face, her main concern was to survive and attempt to receive an education amidst the military guards who escorted her to school and class and the bully offenders; undeniably, she along with the other eight students experienced utter humiliation.

As one reads Carlotta's memoir, many images and thoughts may arise. Over fifty years has passed but her story still peels fresh wounds that have not healed. Indeed, this book may serve as a teaching moment for those who read it or breathe further discussion. This is a part of history that still needs to be learned and understood.

As someone who loves history, I often find myself wanting to know more about certain events than what is actually presented in a history text. Reading first hand accounts of moments in history generally make the history come alive in a way that dry facts simply cannot.

Prior to reading A Mighty Long Way, I knew about the Little Rock Nine. I learned about them and racial segregation in high school. In college, as a political science major, I learned more about them when taking classes that dealt with civil rights. I knew that there was a ton of controversy surrounding the desegregation of Central High, but I didn't know anything about the African American students who bravely stood in the face of rabid racism and hatred.

Carlotta Walls La Nier takes you on a journey in this book. She lets us see what life was like for an African American living in the deep south and dealing with an racist culture. I am amazed at the bravery the author showed in the face of terrible hatred. It is an inspiring story of how she persevered in an hostile environment during a tumultuous period of American history.

This book would be great in an American History class that deals with Civil Rights. There is nothing quite like having first hand accounts of pivotal moments in history. I think this book would be a wonderful addition to American History curriculums in high school and college courses. An account like this is far more valuable than the standard few paragraphs or pages that you usually encounter about this moment in our nation's history.

This book centers around a great story. A sad time in America. A sad time for the South and for people of color. The only reason I gave it only a 3, is the writing is not - or at least it wasn't for me - gripping. The story is gripping. The personal account of how one young girl, against so many odds could overcome and move on. I loved her recent recollection of President Bill Clinton's speech which moved her to tears. I was deeply saddened to see what she had to go through. And my heart broke as she described what other black children went through - just to try and go to that school. I would say, Get this book - if for no other reason than to see someone who overcame adversity. And to compare that day with what's happened in America since that day. We now have a black President- which families of these 9 Children could never have dreamed of seeing in their lifetime. A good account of a horrific struggle -

This memoir is a really important part of our history. Reading it brought up so many emotions about the history of race relations in this country.
What was most astounding was the perseverance and courage of a 14 year old girl in such an overwhelming horror show, it literally stops the mind to contemplate that.

What is the price anyone would put on an education? Some, very little. Some students feign illness, or outright ditch school, to avoid their teachers and classes. For others, it's the endless supply of student loans to shelve out money for tuition and textbooks. For Carlotta Wells LaNier, it was her path to a better life, and attending the best school, not to mention her neighborhood school, was paramount to achieving that goal. "A Mighty Long Way" is her in-depth, riveting recounting of her fateful two years, integrating Little Rock's Central High School, thereby, making a reality a Supreme Court ruling that would shake the country.

Little Rock, Arkansas in the 1950's was a segregated hamlet, where unequal treatment was the norm, and Rosa Parks had just decided to begin the movement by not getting up from her seat. By signing a sheet of paper one day in class, Carlotta Wells unknowingly would become a beacon as well for the civil rights movement by volunteering to be one of the students in the force integration of Central High School.. She just wanted to go to the best school to receive the best education, and in her opinion, that meant attending Central, that offered more opportunities that the black schools that catered to Little Rocks African-American students.

As events quickly spun out of control, Carlotta and the other eight students found themselves face to face with Arkansas national guard soldiers that would deny them entry into the school, based on orders from racist governor Orval Faubus. With Eisenhower's intervention, soon the nine would cross the threshold into the school, and endure one of the most challenging years in any high school history, ever. LaNier tells of her painful experience, and it is painful to read.

Many themes echo through LaNier's fabulous book; perseverance, standing by principles, self-determination, and pride. One that echoed the most for me was her beautiful humility. Deciding early on to never trade on the fame that the Little Rock Nine would bring her, LaNier survives this ordeal (and a bombing of her house) and finds herself as her own, strong person. Only embracing her past late in life, and sharing her story with us, LaNier demonstrates to us how that internal strength can carry you far.

Her story ends with her reflections on President Obama's election, and somehow, you see this huge circle that her life has created, with some detours, crooked lines, retracing and squiggles. But what a circle it is, and what a read this fantastic book is. I forsee this book will be one of the best reads of my year.