SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
A new book for young readers recalls a tense moment in U.S. history. It's the end of the summer in 1957. Children are headed back to class, and Carlotta Wall's Uncle Em gives her a $20 bill to buy a special dress for her first day at a new school. Carlotta is one of nine Black students chosen to be the first to attend Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. They will later become known as the Little Rock Nine. "Carlotta's Special Dress" is by Carlotta Walls LaNier with Lisa Frazier Page and illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton. Carlotta Walls LaNier joins us now from Denver, where she's lived for years. Thanks so much for being with us.
CARLOTTA WALLS LANIER: It is my pleasure to be with you, Scott.
SIMON: Tell us about this black dress with little letters and numbers.
LANIER: My mother and I went downtown to purchase it. I normally did not purchase clothes downtown because you couldn't try on clothes during those days. Black people couldn't do that. You had to pretty much eyeball it. So we, you know, looked around, and I didn't like the frilly ones that she was picking out.
(LAUGHTER)
LANIER: We ended up with this one. I liked it because it was somewhat understated. All I wanted to do was to be a normal student going to Little Rock Central High. And that dress now is in the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
SIMON: There's quite a section in the book when you described that first day. Could I get you to read it for us?
LANIER: (Reading) As we get closer to the school, I hear shouting and chanting, like the sound of a crowd at a football game. But soon I see that this is not a happy crowd. People are angry and screaming at us in the distance. Who could be angry at children and ministers? Some people yell for us to go home. Others shout mean things. My pretty new dress doesn't even matter. The crowd seems blinded by anger. My heart beats faster and faster, but I keep my head down, and I think about what my parents might say. They are just mean people trying to scare you. Don't quit. Keep going.
SIMON: Don't quit. Keep going. I think a lot of youngsters might have said, why? They're not nice people. I don't want to go to school with them.
LANIER: That's true. But, you know, I was taught from cradle on that the road to success was through education. And no matter what you do, be prepared to go through the door, whether it's a crack or it's flung wide open. And if you know that you're doing the right thing, then you continue.
SIMON: Your parents must have been very worried about your safety.
LANIER: Later, they were. I don't think they were in the beginning. And I have said so often that the parents are really the heroes and sheroes of this movement because they had faith and hope that they knew that change was coming. They were just hopeful that there would be nothing, you know, to really be harmful to us - words, yes. We had heard them so many times before. So I was prepared for that. It was like water off a duck's back.
SIMON: We'll explain. I guess, all these years later, there was litigation. And ultimately, President Eisenhower instructed the 101st Airborne.
LANIER: The Screaming Eagles, yes.
SIMON: The Screaming Eagles to bring you to school. That must have felt both safe and frightening.
LANIER: Well, it felt safe, I can tell you that much. After three weeks of litigation, you know, in the federal courts, we had to be spirited out of the school because of another January 6. That is how September 23 felt to me. The 101st came two days later. And so then I felt like my country is protecting me. I didn't know until 50 years later, at the 50th anniversary - yes, they had guns and fixed bayonets. They escorted us into the school, and they were also - escorted us from one classroom to another. They didn't come into the classroom, but they were outside. But they did not have bullets in those guns, which I think was probably a good thing.
SIMON: May I ask, over the years, have any of the people you went to high school with - the white kids - have they ever said, I'm sorry?
LANIER: Yes. There have been some. Later in life, I came across a person here in the state of Colorado who happened to be a minister. I remembered her, and we started having lunch once a quarter and discussing that period of time. And she was a senior at the time when I was a sophomore, and she would give me a smile every now and then when I would see her in the hallways. And so she went on to explain that her grandparents did not want her going to Little Rock Central High School with Black kids. And what she did was question their religious beliefs. She just said to her grandfather, are you telling me that - you know, I guess they had a maid there who was Black. You're telling me that you love her, that she's such a good person, and she takes care of us and feeds us well, that she's not a child of God like I am? And he backed down.
So she wanted me to know that even though she had parents and grandparents that didn't want her there, going to school with us, that she was determined to do so. And she did. But there have been a number of those since the 50th anniversary, that some have come out and sent an email or made a phone call or what have you, that they were sorry that things were the way they were, what they might have participated in.
SIMON: What do you tell them? What do you say?
LANIER: I appreciate them speaking up. For a person to be able to see where they are wrong and are willing to acknowledge that, I think that that's the first step for people to be able to get along.
SIMON: What do you hope young readers across the country might learn from your story, this book?
LANIER: You stay with it, whatever it is. If you know that you're right, you don't quit. That's one of the things that I want them to understand. I want them to also understand how to get along with each other, being accepting of others in this human race. You know, you can be disappointed about things, but it does not define you. Put that next foot forward and continue. I was disappointed that my dress was not as lucky as I thought it was going to be, but it didn't define me.
SIMON: "Carlotta's Special Dress" is a new book for young readers by Carlotta Walls LaNier with Lisa Frazier Page, and it's illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton. Thank you so much for being with us.
LANIER: It has been my pleasure.
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