How to keep the "rules" laid down by her grandmother: Don't look white people in the eye, don't do anything to attract their attention, don't speak unless spoken to, don't smile or talk too loud, and never, never walk in front of them. Raised in a loving home that valued books and education (her mother was studying for a master's degree), she was constantly questioning the segregated world around her: Why couldn't she try on clothes in a department store? Why did adults allow themselves to be treated so badly by their white employers? By elementary school, Melba was spending hours thinking about how to move forward without endangering herself or her family. From the age of 3, Melba remembers knowing she lived in a place where she was not welcome, that there were places where the color of her skin meant she could not go there and things she could not do. In MARCH FORWARD GIRL, Melba Beals looks back on a childhood spent in racially segregated Little Rock, Arkansas.
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