MELBA PATILLO BEALS is a dynamic keynote speaker, coach, author,
and a former news reporter for KQED and NBC-affiliate, KRON-TV
with numerous appearances on Oprah Winfrey, Fresh Air, Good
Morning America and C-Span’s Booknotes. She is the author of
“Warriors Don’t Cry” and “White is a State of Mind.”
Â
In 1957, while most teenage girls were listening to Buddy Holly’s
“Peggy Sue,” watching Elvis gyrate and collecting crinoline
slips, a 15-year-old MELBA PATTILLO was escaping the hanging rope
of a lynch mob, dodging lighted sticks of dynamite, and washing
away burning acid sprayed into her eyes by segregationists
determined to prevent her from integrating Little Rock’s Central
High School. As a teenager, she was caught up in the center of a
civil rights firestorm which stunned this nation and altered the
course of history.
Â
WARRIORS DON’T CRY, chronicles her experience as a civil rights
heroine. It is a snapshot of a Black family in the south living
under a system of apartheid during the 1950s. Facing the
oppression which would engulf them, they struggled, holding onto
their dignity against overwhelming odds.
Â
Her latest book, WHITE IS A STATE OF MIND, is a sequel which
chronicles that part of her journey following her Central High
experience. In this book Beals flees from Little Rock’s raging
segregationist mobs into the protective arms of a white
California family. She walks the bridge into adulthood struggling
to find her place within the human family and a sense of safety
and value.
Â
MELBA PATILLO BEALS earned a master’s degree in journalism from
Columbia University and worked as a news reporter for San
Francisco’s public television station, KQED, and for the NBC
affiliate, KRON-TV.
Â
Melba Patillo Beals has written numerous articles for
periodicals including “People,” “Essence” and the “San Francisco
Examiner.” Her best-selling primer on public relations, “Expose
Yourself: Using the Power of Public Relations to Promote Your
Business and Yourself,” is an acknowledged industry reference.
Â
In addition to many national radio shows such as Fresh Air, she
has appeared on numerous television shows, among them Oprah
Winfrey, Good Morning America, The Charlie Rose Show and C-Span’s
Booknotes. She and her daughter, Kellie, are writing the
screenplay for a feature film based on “Warriors.” Learn more
about Melba Patillo Beals at: http://www.melbabeals.com .