Foreword
My Journey to Justice at
Little Rock Central High School
A MIGHTY LONG WAY
FOREWORD
I was eleven years old on September 25, 1957, when Carlotta Walls, Minnijean Brown, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Pattillo, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Gloria Ray, Terrence Roberts and Jefferson Thomas, supported by their mentors Daisy and L.C. Bates, bravely walked into the halls of Central High School, and into the pages of American History.
I lived fifty miles away in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and although I had never attended school with black children, I supported integration and was pulling for those kids. So were my mother and grandparents. In his small grocery store, in Hope, Arkansas, my grandfather served both black and white working people. He treated them equally, including giving them food on credit when times were tough and they were doing their best.
Seeing the Little Rock Nine face down the angry mob fascinated me, and inspired an emotional bond that has
lasted a lifetime…A Mighty Long Way will make you ashamed and proud, angry and hopeful, heartsick and happy. Carlotta tells it as
it was, a story we all need to know.