Melba Patillo Beals on Heroism and the Hand of Fate

“Yet even as I wince at the terrible risk we all took, I remember thinking at the time that it was the right decision—because it it felt as though the hand of fate was ushering us forward.”

Melba Pattillo Beals on the Integration of Little Rock Schools, Warriors Don’t Cry (1994)

Excerpted from: Howe, Randy, ed. The Quotable Teacher. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.