Throughout the text, Beals never lets readers forget that soldiers are guarding her and her fellow classmates. Cite evidence from the text to explain what these soldiers represent. How do these details contribute to the central idea of the text?

"It's Thursday, September 26, 1957. Now I have a bodyguard. I know very well that the President did not send those soldiers just to protect me but to show support for an idea-the idea that a governor can't ignore federal laws. Still, I feel specially cared about because the guard is there. If he wasn't there, I'd hear more of the voices of those people who say I'm a ... "

Explanation:

The journalist and college educator Melba Beals, author of the novel Warriors Do not cry cares throughout the narration about letting her readers know of the importance in her struggle to be the pioneer of public education of African Americans in white study entities. In this excerpt the guarding soldiers represent more than security, they represent the support from the government to the fight against racism.

Beals, being a member of the Little Rock Nine, a group of students from the Afro-American movement who lead one of the most important moments in the North American history when they achieved to be part of Little Rock Central High School, an institution integrated in the beginning only by white students.