What resonates so strongly in 2018 is that Daisy Bates wrote this memoir in the midst of the struggle for civil rights. The narrative is riveting, and the detail appalling. Published in 1962, The Long Shadow chronicles the integration of Little Rock's all-white high school. One of the best books I've read this year. Very well written, very personal and real. Bates' question is still a legitimate one, that must be answered if this country truly ever wants to be the promised land. "In the great struggle of the colored peoples of the world for equality and independence - the struggle that is one of the truly crucial events of the twentieth century - the episode of the children in Little Rock is a landmark of historic significance".įor the world today it seems Mrs. I really enjoyed the explanation of each student as well as the unabashed, tell it like it is style of writing. This story of the Little Rock Nine compliments other memoirs, notably that of Melba Patillo Beals, and is told from the perspective of an adult woman experiencing the persecution of the forced integration of Central High School. Bates has since passed, but in 2012 evidence that this country still has miles to go remains. How long will racial inequality last in the United States? Mrs. I really enjoyed the explanation of each student as well as the unabas "How long? How long?" Daisy Bates questions. "How long? How long?" Daisy Bates questions. This new edition of Bates's own story about these historic events is being issued to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the Little Rock School crisis in 2007.more On September 25, Daisy Bates, an official of the NAACP in Arkansas, led the nine children into the school with the help of federal troops sent by President Eisenhower-the first time in eighty-one years that a president had dispatched troops to the South to protect the constitutional rights of black Americans. Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to surround all-white Central High School and prevent the entry of nine black students, challenging the Supreme Court's 1954 order to integrate all public schools. In 1988, after the University of Arkansas Press reprinted it, it won an American Book Award. In 1988, after the University of Arka At an event honoring Daisy Bates as 1990's Distinguished Citizen then-governor Bill Clinton called her "the most distinguished Arkansas citizen of all time." Her classic account of the 1957 Little Rock School Crisis, The Long Shadow of Little Rock, couldn't be found on most bookstore shelves in 1962 and was banned throughout the South.
At an event honoring Daisy Bates as 1990's Distinguished Citizen then-governor Bill Clinton called her "the most distinguished Arkansas citizen of all time." Her classic account of the 1957 Little Rock School Crisis, The Long Shadow of Little Rock, couldn't be found on most bookstore shelves in 1962 and was banned throughout the South.