Book Review: A Mighty Long Way

A Mighty Long Way
By Carlotta Walls LaNier



The year was 1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas, the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement. The Supreme Justice just ruled in favor of desegregation in our country.  The courageous students had a chance to receive a better education at all white school.  They didn't see a danger. They didn't see this as making a statement. They just wanted a better education.

I can't imagine being as brave as these nine students in 1957. As well as their parents. The President was forced to intervene. The governor wasn't doing anything to stop the violence. President Eisenhower had to send in the National Guard to protect the black students. The mobs were so angry it traumatized one student for years.

The Black students were honor students, and very mature for their age. It was important for them to receive a good education. They were not welcome to get an education at Little Rock Central High School. The State and our country weren't going to let that happen.  For weeks it went on as a stand down. What the school was going to do, and the government.

On a side note, I was impressed by how much education meant to these students. Many students I knew in school were slackers. They were happy to cut classes and miss school. These students didn't. They were miserable just missing one day. The Black community stuck together to help them. The students and their parents were so committed. They found other means of getting their education when they were unable to get to their classes.

The students went through so much torment, name-calling, even still they got through it. Some did graduate from high school. Some didn't. The Black community would never be the same. Some of the students and their families never returned to the town they lived in for generations.

There was one particular incident that affected Carlotta so much. It tore her up for years. Her family home was bombed. They eventually suspected her father, and then someone from the black community as a scapegoat. Eventually, they let her father go. But, the other person was put in prison for some time.

I was born in 1958. I lived outside Detroit in 1967. I remember there was talk in my community of busing students and desegregation. I don't remember what happened out of that because my family moved. The book was an eye-opener. This is part of history I heard glimpses of. I was too young to understand the civil rights movement until now.  I recommend A Mighty Long Way to anyone interested in the Civil Rights Movement, or who believes everyone has a right to the best education.

 This is a scary time right now. When everyone's civil liberties are being chiseled away little by little without anyone noticing.