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A Mighty Long Way: My Journey To Justice At Little Rock Central High School (2009)

by Carlotta Walls LaNier(Favorite Author)

4.04 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

034551100X (ISBN13: 9780345511003)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

One World/Ballantine

review 1: A Mighty Long Way by Carlotta Walls LaNier is about the forced integration of Little Rock Central High School in 1957. I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. LaNier, one of the original Little Rock Nine at a local book signing in a suburb of Denver, five years ago. Taking to her in person about her experiences made the book pale in comparison, but it is still a riveting read because you realize that Mrs. LaNier was the youngest of The Little Rock Nine, and only 15-years-old at the time. I would recommend this book to eighth grade students to adults who are interested in American history.
review 2: If I were a high school history teacher, all my students would read this book. Lanier was the youngest of the Little Rock Nine—the nine black kids who went to Central h... moreigh school after it was forcibly integrated. As a high-achieving, captain of this, queen of that 8th grader, when she heard that Central was opening to black kids, signing up was a no-brainer: it was a much better school, with much nicer equipment and labs, and it was closer to her house than the all-black-by-default high school. She had no idea what was coming. When she showed up to Central the first day, the National Guard was there—to keep the Nine safe, she thought, because crowds were jeering and spitting at them—but the state governor had actually called out the Guard to prevent the black kids from entering (it was the President who integrated the school, not the governor). The Nine were not allowed to participate in any sports or extracurriculars, a shock to the usually-involved-in-everything Carlotta. Many of the Nine didn’t return to Central after the first year. Carlotta, the youngest, entering as a freshman, survived all four years and was the first black female graduate of the school. Fantastic and eye-opening, with a forward by Bill Clinton. less

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