LITTLE ROCK — Carlotta Walls LaNier was so famous when she was in high school that a letter from Denmark found its way to her, even though the writer merely attached a newspaper photo to the envelope and wrote, "This girl on the picture goes on high school in Little Rock. Please send the letter to the girl."
LaNier was one of nine black students who integrated Little Rock Central High School in 1957. She and fellow student Terrence Roberts, also one of the so-called Little Rock Nine, are the authors of two new books that describe their experiences at Central High and beyond.
LaNier's book, co-written by Washington Post editor and reporter Lisa Frazier Page, is titled A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School. It takes a plainspoken, straightforward approach, letting the events do the talking.
The youngest of the nine, LaNier entered Central High at the age of 14 and became first black woman to graduate from the school (in 1960) before continuing her education at Michigan State University and Colorado State College (now the University of Northern Colorado), from which she graduated in 1968.
The book focuses on her remembrances of the Supreme Court-ordered integration period as well as the bombing of her family's home in 1960 (her childhood friend Herbert Monts was convicted of the crime and served 20 months of a five-year sentence). And it recalls her childhood, her family, and the culture that surrounded her.
Among the most vivid recollections is when LaNier, at the age of 8, took the train to New York - escorted by an interconnected group of black railroad workers who looked out for her - to visit her aunt and uncle for the summer. Seeing blacks and whites in an integrated metropolis was an eye-opener for the child, one that had a lasting effect on her.
"I could tell already that being colored seemed to mean something else up here - or maybe it meant nothing at all," LaNier writes.
A Mighty Long Way is at its best recounting personal details and memories like this.As a reference, though, it falls short. A memoir isn't a history book, but sloppy editing detracts from the book's credibility. For example, LaNier says her mother worked downtown "at M.M. Cohen Department Store" as a seamstress and clerk; the misspelling of that once stylish emporium of elegance will annoy many who are well aware the store's name was M.M. Cohn.
Another discrepancy occurs in the foreword written by former President Bill Clinton in which he says he was an 11-year-old living in Hot Springs in September 1957. But in LaNier's prologue, recalling a scene in which the Little Rock Nine gathered in the kitchen of the Governor's Mansion with then-Arkansas Gov. Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton in 1987, La-Nier quotes Clinton as saying he was a sixth-grader in Hope in 1957.
Still, there are remarkablemoments in A Mighty Long Way, such as LaNier's recollection of herself at the age of 8 in New York, throwing pebbles at an old man nodding off on a park bench until he stood and doddered away. Years later, visiting the park,she noticed a plaque with a name engraved on it in honor of a man who used to sit there.
He was Thelonious Monk.
TEACHER TEACHER
A more philosophical - or pedantic - approach is taken by Terrence Roberts in the aptly titled Lessons From Little Rock.
Roberts entered Little Rock Central High School as a 15-year-old 11th-grader in 1957. When Little Rock's public high schools were closed in 1958 to prevent further desegregation, Roberts moved to Los Angeles to live with relatives. After graduating from Los Angeles High School in June 1959, he went on to earn a bachelor's degree in sociology from California State University at Los Angeles, a master's degree from the University of California at Los Angeles and a doctorate from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Since then Roberts, a resident of Pasadena, Calif., has held academic and administrative positions at Antioch College in Los Angeles. He owns a consulting company and maintains a practice in clinical psychology.
A writer's love of language is evident in Roberts' well-crafted prose. He uses it to describe growing up in a segregated society, noting as an example the building of Little Rock's Gillam Park, complete with swimming pool, as blacks were banned from swimming in the Fair Park pool.
Influences in Roberts' life include family, religion, community, the nonviolent teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (who came to Little Rock in 1957 to meet with black students heading to Central High), and the importance of academic achievement.
The events of 1957, as well as the circumstances that led up to them, are described in great detail from Roberts' perspective - the stress, fear, isolation and ongoing battle to keep focused on getting a quality education. All of it seems to have had a profoundimpact on Roberts.
Little Rock, he writes, "taught us that paying attention to the spirit is essential. In the face of attack, it is valuable to know that other spiritfilled people have faced such situations with confidence. You are able to make decisions about what to do and where to go with a lot more courage when you have a meaningful connection to a spirit of love and an understanding of how others before you managed to succeed in the face of formidable opposition."
Roberts believes the events he lived through are part of an ongoing process. "We must confront the issues that continue to confound us," he writes. "We must learn ways to accept and embrace difference, rid ourselves of the disabling thought patterns that keep us at arm's length from each other, and work toward establishing a just and truly democratic society."Meet the authors
The Central Arkansas Library System and the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies will host a talk by Terrence Roberts at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Darragh Center in the Main Library, 100 Rock St., Little Rock. A reception will follow, and Roberts will sign copies of his book Lessons From Little Rock (Butler Center Books, 192 pages, $24.95).
Roberts will speak to students at Central High School at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday.
Carlotta Walls LaNier, author of A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School (Random House, 283 pages, $26), and Roberts will sign books from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Central High School National Historic Site Visitor Center, 2120 Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive, Little Rock. They'll be joined by Paul Robert Walker, who will be signing copies of Remember Little Rock, his book about Central High for young readers (National Geographic Books, 64pages, $17.95). To learn more, call (501) 374-1957.
LaNier will join a panel discussion and conduct a book signing at 6 p.m. Thursday at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock. Call (501) 683-5200 for more information.
Roberts and LaNier will be panelists Thursday and Friday at "Speaking the Truth on Social Issues and Politics in the 21st Century" at the Harry R. Kendall Science and Health Mission Center, Philander Smith College. More information is available at www.nps.gov/chsc.
Style, Pages 55, 57 on 09/20/2009