I Will Not Fear, Melba Pattillo Beals
I Will Not Fear, Melba Pattillo Beals
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I Will Not Fear
My Story of a Lifetime of Building Faith under Fire

Author: Melba Pattillo Beals

Narrator: Myra Lucretia Taylor

Unabridged: 5 hr 51 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/16/2018

Synopsis

In 1957, Melba Beals was one of the nine African American students chosen to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. But her story of overcoming didn’t start—or end—there. While her white schoolmates were planning their senior prom, Melba was facing the business end of a double-barreled shotgun, being threatened with lynching by rope-carrying tormentors, and learning how to outrun white supremacists who were ready to kill her rather than sit beside her in a classroom. Only her faith in God sustained her during her darkest days and helped her become a civil rights warrior, an NBC television news reporter, a magazine writer, a professor, a wife, and a mother.In I Will Not Fear, Beals takes listeners on an unforgettable journey through terror, oppression, and persecution, highlighting the kind of faith needed to survive in a world full of heartbreak and anger. She shows how the deep faith we develop during our most difficult moments is the kind of faith that can change our families, our communities, and even the world.Encouraging and inspiring, Beals’ story offers listeners hope that faith is the solution to the pervasive hopelessness of our current culture.

About Melba Pattillo Beals

Melba Pattillo Beals is a recipient of this country’s highest honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, for her role, as a fifteen-year-old, in the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. A retired university professor with a doctorate in International Multicultural Education, she is a former KQED television broadcaster, NBC television news reporter, ABC radio talk show host, and writer for various magazines, including Family Circle and People. Beals’s Warriors Don’t Cry has been in print for more than twenty years, has sold more than one million copies, and was the winner of the American Library Association Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, and the American Booksellers’ Association Award. She lives in San Francisco and is the mother of three adult children.

About Myra Lucretia Taylor

Myra Lucretia Taylor is an award-winning actress who has appeared on Broadway, off Broadway, in many theaters across the country, and internationally. Her television and film credits include Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Atlanta, The Big Sick, Bushwick, and Catfight.

Reviews

Goodreads review by J.D. on March 10, 2018

I was not very familiar with the history of the Little Rock Nine nor had I ever heard the name of Melba Pattillo Beals before hearing about this book so I had no idea what to expect when I began to read. As one of the nine African American high school students to be selected to integrate the all-whi......more

Goodreads review by Stephanie on November 23, 2018

"If you go only where you are welcome, that's where other people want you to go, not where you choose to go. You're limited by their vision- not living your own dreams." Melba Pattillo Beals was fifteen yeard old when she began to attend Cental High School in 1957, an all white school. Being one of t......more

Goodreads review by Kav on March 30, 2018

An inspiring memoir of a courageous woman. I was familiar with the Little Rock Nine and the integration of Central High School, but reading Melba Pattillo Beals' first hand account has made a powerful impact on me. I really don't have words to describe the horror and anger and sheer disbelief I felt......more

Goodreads review by Debbie on June 30, 2024

This book had me laughing, angry, crying, and falling in love with Melba's godly grandmother. Melba Patillo was one of the Little Rock Nine, the nine Black students chosen to begin the integration of Little Rock's high schools. She describes the cruelty, physical abuse, and death threats that she suf......more

Goodreads review by Cheryl on March 25, 2019

I had never read a personal account of the 1957 integration of Central High School in Little Rock, AR before, let alone from one of the nine African American students chosen to do so. Very eye-opening and shocking to hear what they had to endure. The book also includes many other faith-building expe......more

Quotes

“As listeners who enter into the life of a notable Civil Rights leader with this audiobook will learn, fear was around every corner, and faith in God was the foundation for peaceful resistance leading to permanent change. With Myra Lucretia Taylor’s hushed and fearful voice at times mixed with anger, excitement, and resolve—history comes to life. Beals makes it clear that racism existed on both sides, though one side was more equipped to handle it biblically than the other. Though this biography is compelling in itself, narrator Myra Lucretia Taylor adds a personal touch through her narrative gifts, drawing the listener into a real place and time and the stranger-than-fiction true life of Melba Beals.” AudioFile

“When young people face situations that threaten to rob them of their confidence in themselves and in humanity in general, the result can be devastating for a lifetime. However, Melba Pattillo Beals’ book I Will Not Fear quite powerfully presents the lessons in Christian faith that the author learned as a teen faced with fear, humiliation, and outright violence…It is a must-read for teens, their parents, grandparents, and everyone else! I highly recommend it.” Dr. John M. Perkins, founder and president emeritus of the John & Vera Mae Perkins Foundation and cofounder of the Christian Community Development Association

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