Legacies p. 183-226 MS. OLSON

Pages 183-226 Review Melba continues her friendship with Link despite her family’s concerns about his motives. At his urgent request, she goes with him to see his former nanny, an elderly African American woman. Melba not only helps Link find a doctor for the ailing woman but also persuades her grandmother to help care for her.

As the school year draws to a close, segregationists step up their efforts to force the remaining African Americans from the school. This time they focus on the students’ families. Melba’s mother is told that her teaching contract will not be renewed unless Melba withdraws from Central High. She keeps her job only after an African American bishop in her church intervenes on her behalf.

Throughout that spring, Ernest Green, the only senior among the African American students, is the focus of much of the harassment. The segregationists want to keep him from graduating. Although they fail, the only African Americans allowed to attend the ceremony are members of Ernest’s family. Melba listens to the graduation on the radio.

Link, distraught over the death of Mrs Link, distraught over the death of Mrs. Healy, asks Melba to accompany him to school in the North. Melba refuses, telling him she is going to remain at Central High, but she never gets the opportunity. Despite a Supreme Court ruling that integration must continue, Governor Faubus closes all of the high schools in Little Rock in the fall of 1958. To continue her education, Melba goes to live with a white family in California. With the support of her adopted family, she finishes high school there and goes on to college.

Creating Legacies- Link Why does Link feel responsible for Mrs. Healy? Why do you think his parents do not feel as responsible for her welfare? How does Link’s relationship with Mrs. Healy affect his attitude toward African Americans? How does racism shape Link’s friendship with Melba? To what extent does Link take a stand against racism? 


Legacy of Ernest Green Discuss the importance of Ernest Green’s graduation. 
• The people who attend the graduation applaud other graduates but are silent when Ernest receives his diploma. How do you explain their silence? DISCUSSION: What does Ernest Green’s graduation from Central High School mean to African Americans in Little Rock? Why is it a matter of such concern to segregationists?

LITTLE ROCK NINE LEGACY Consider the consequence of the choices Melba and the other eight African American students make. 
 • What have Melba and the other African American students accomplished? To what extent have they made a difference in Little Rock? In cities across the nation? To people around the world?

MELBA’S VIEW ON GREEN’S GRADUATION Why is Melba so committed to returning to the school in September? 
 Melba writes that “the newspapers said Ernie’s diploma cost the tax- payers half a million dollars. Of course, we knew it cost all of us much more.” What does she mean by that statement?

MELBA’S LEGACY Why is Melba so committed to returning to the school in September? 
Consider why Melba regards her experiences at Central High as a “a positive force that has shaped the course of my life” (acid thrown in her face, dynamite tossed at her, constant physical abuse…) HOW does she see that year as positive !?! How has the experience shaped her identity?

IS RECONCILATION POSSIBLE? In 1996, seven of the African American students who attended Central High during the 1957–1958 school year appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show. They came face to face with a few of the white students who tormented them as well as one student who befriended them. In reflecting on the year, a white student said, “I didn’t understand why you all wanted to come to Central High School, why you would want to leave your friends, things that you knew and were comfortable with, and why you would even want to be with me.”

IS PEACE POSSIBLE? YOUTUBE: (4:10) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAsh_PDr1cc STUDENTS: How would YOU respond to the man’s comments?!? Did the African American students put up with harassment just to be with white students? Why did they literally risk their lives? How important was the stand they took? Ernest Green told the audience that “if there’s any lesson to be learned” it is to “stand up for what’s right.”

YOUR LEGACY AT PVHS What experiences have been a positive force in your life? How have they shaped your identity? What do we need to stand up for here at PVHS? Are injustices still occurring? In your journal, write about the following: 1- a positive force that has shaped your identity 2- What do you need to stand up for at PVHS this year?