A Mighty Long Way

Starred review from December 1, 2022

Gr 5 Up-"Why am I just learning about this now?" a student asked Carlotta Walls LaNier when she was speaking about her experience as one of the Little Rock Nine. The 1957 integration of Black students into an all-white high school (a result of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education desgregation order issued by the Supreme Court) was a challenging and daunting time, but the nine students who took that risk made history and broke barriers for future Black children. This book conveys all the emotions and ups and downs Walls LaNier and her friends, family, and community endured. The Little Rock Nine thought going to a new, well-known school in Arkansas would be a great opportunity and open more doors for their future. Instead, they endured mental and physical violence daily from both students and adults in the community. Alongside its incredible historical value, teachers could use this title to teach empathy and respect; it's what all students deserve at any school. VERDICT A compelling account of one of the Little Rock Nine, and the first Black woman to graduate from Central High School. A must-purchase for nonfiction collections and required reading for U.S. history classes.-Cassandra Bland

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Starred review from January 1, 2023
Grades 7-10 *Starred Review* This memoir records the experiences of Carlotta Walls LaNier, one of the Little Rock Nine. In 1957, she and eight other Black students integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, despite fierce vocal and sometimes violent opposition by segregationists. Initially, the Nine could not enter the school because the governor had ordered the National Guard to keep them out. President Eisenhower sent in troops from the 101st Airborne to ensure that the nine students could enter the building and attend classes. The Nine were not protected from other students harassing them between classes by bumping, kicking, punching, spitting, and shoving. Outside of school, racist attacks became increasingly violent. LaNier's home was bombed one night in 1960, but she returned to school and graduated. Decades later, she began speaking to students about her experiences. Adapted for young readers from LaNier's A Mighty Long Way (2009), this book records her experiences and emotions as well as her admiration and gratitude for her parents and for civil rights activist Daisy Bates, who advised the Black students, mentored them, and acted as their spokesperson. LaNier offers a well-organized, vividly detailed, and often riveting account of everyday courage and tenacity in the midst of the twentieth-century civil rights movement.

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Starred review from October 15, 2022
The youngest member of the Little Rock Nine faces ghosts from her past to share her story of school integration. Carlotta Walls grew up in Arkansas in a loving, supportive Black community. In 1957, as a ninth grader at Dunbar Junior High, she added her name to a roster of students willing to integrate Little Rock Central High, which was noted for its excellent education and facilities. However, she and other volunteers faced countless obstacles: The White school superintendent held a meeting with the Black students to let them know that they could not participate in extracurriculars or school social events. The governor sent the Arkansas National Guard to block their entrance. Even after being escorted to school by military troops sent in by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the teens were physically assaulted and verbally harassed by classmates. Segregationists in Little Rock targeted the livelihoods of the Black students' parents, and Carlotta's home was bombed. Despite all these obstacles, she graduated, went to college, and became a realtor, Colorado AIDS Project board member, and president of the Little Rock Nine Foundation, which has a college scholarship program. This highly personal story brings the time period to life, giving readers an inside view of what it meant to be a nonviolent participant in integration and exploring how laws have been used to heal or harm citizens. The clear voice shares intimate stories that are clearly contextualized within larger societal events. A compelling and necessary account of facing and surviving injustice. (Nonfiction. 10-16)

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June 1, 2009
At 14, Lanier was the youngest of the “Little Rock Nine,” who integrated Little Rock Central High School in 1951; she went on to become the first African –American young woman to receive a diploma from the school. Her memoir provides a firsthand account of a seismic shift in American history. She recalls the well-reported violence outside the school and daily harassment and ineffective protection from teachers and guards. Away from school, the Nine were honored and feted, but their parents found their jobs—even their lives—in jeopardy. Lanier’s house was bombed, and a childhood friend, Herbert Monts, was falsely accused and convicted. Monts’s account of his experiences, shared with Lanier, 43 years later, is historically newsworthy. Lanier’s recollections of family history and her relatively pedestrian experiences after high school graduation (graduate school, job hunting, marrying, finding her new home in Denver) lack the drama of her historical moment. In a sense, Lanier didn’t make history, history made her. Her plainspoken report from the front line is, nevertheless, a worthy contribution to the history of civil rights in America.