Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock by David Margolick

Nov 07, 2011 Cafelilybookreviews rated it 4 of 5 stars

Elizabeth Ann Eckford walked to school alone the morning of September 4, 1957, due to miscommunication. Her family did not have a telephone so when the plans were changed for the location of the "Little Rock Nine" to meet up, Elizabeth wasn't notified.

That one miscommunication forever changed history as she walked to school and had to pass through an angry, taunting crowd shouting racial slurs and obscenities. Humiliated and scared, she was denied entrance to the school so Elizabeth had to endu...more Elizabeth Ann Eckford walked to school alone the morning of September 4, 1957, due to miscommunication. Her family did not have a telephone so when the plans were changed for the location of the "Little Rock Nine" to meet up, Elizabeth wasn't notified.

That one miscommunication forever changed history as she walked to school and had to pass through an angry, taunting crowd shouting racial slurs and obscenities. Humiliated and scared, she was denied entrance to the school so Elizabeth had to endure more taunts and heckling as she made her way back through the angry hate-filled crowd to the bus stop and eventually to her mother's workplace.

With cries of "lynch her" and "drag her over to this tree" ringing in her ears, fifteen year old Elizabeth Eckford took a serious verbal, mental and emotional beating that day. A sheep among wolves, Elizabeth's perception of life would forever be altered by this and the experiences to come at Little Rock Central High School.

This book also tells the story of Hazel Bryan, the fifteen year old white girl in the photo, caught screaming at Elizabeth. In the years following this photo, Hazel would eventually realize the implications of her actions and call Elizabeth to apologize.

As I read about this iconic photo and how it came to be, my heart broke. As a parent, I'm not sure I could have withstood what Elizabeth's parents watched her go through as they attempted to be part of history and desegregate the school. I don't know that I could have offered up my child as an innocent lamb the way her parents did, even though it was supposedly for the betterment of her future. They trusted those in authority who reassured them this would be for the good of everyone involved.

However, Elizabeth and the other members of the Little Rock Nine endured abuse, taunts and injustice not only on September 4th but in the days to come. Though the initial reports from inside the school were upbeat once the Little Rock Nine were enrolled and attending, over time, details would surface of what really happened inside the school. Assigned "protection" inside the school under the same National Guardsmen who had previously prevented them from entering, these students endured harassment that included being hit with rocks, body slamming, broken glass and scaldings in the locker room showers.

This was a very disturbing read because it is such an honest and accurate portrayal of a very shameful part of our history. David Margolick writes it exactly as it happened, without sugar coating or glossing over the details, to soften the blow. I can't say that I enjoyed reading this story as it is heartbreaking, but as a history buff, it helped me understand a major turning point in our culture.

*More conservative readers should be aware that there are some graphic descriptions and language in this book.

(less)

1 like · like · see review

Mar 03, 2013 Linda Appelbaum rated it 5 of 5 stars

I found this to be fascinating and almost like watching a train wreck. The book explores the relationship of 2 women, one black, one white, who were central to the integration of a high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. A photo captured the two at a moment when the dignified black girl walked clutching her notebook to her chest and the white girl behind with her mouth wide open in an angry yell.

What I liked about this book was that each woman was so complex and multi-faceted, being neither compl...more

like · see review

Oct 18, 2012 Razz rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-club-books

I chose this book for my book club.
The book contains photographs (I wish there had been more) which are a part of America's ugly history. The book follows these 2 women after the fatal day that the Arkansas Nine were being integrated into an all white school in the late 50's. The picture that has become a large part of that day was of Elizabeth walking bravely to the school while surrounded by jeering whites, one of which was Hazel.

The author did a nice job describing each woman's background and...more

like · see review

Sep 22, 2012 Robin rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was taught in school of the events in Little Rock, Arkansas but I honestly never really read the readings that would be given to me thoroughly. I would scan and take away what I thought would be on the quiz the next day. I chose this book on the shelf because the photo and the title made my mind twitch with curiosity. This book came about because of a photo that was taken years ago of these two young girls caught in the middle of change. Change that was welcomed by most but revered by too man...more I was taught in school of the events in Little Rock, Arkansas but I honestly never really read the readings that would be given to me thoroughly. I would scan and take away what I thought would be on the quiz the next day. I chose this book on the shelf because the photo and the title made my mind twitch with curiosity. This book came about because of a photo that was taken years ago of these two young girls caught in the middle of change. Change that was welcomed by most but revered by too many to make it non peaceful. The young African American girl just wanted an education that she deserved, a chance to have a proper one that she deserved but instead was bullied and heckled. She was considered not worthy because of the color of her skin. The young girl behind her was calling her names, emotionally abusing her all because of the color of her skin. I have to say this though, while it was this girls fault for what she had done it wasn't her fault that she was brought up learing of such ignorance. She was raised believing that the white race was superior to anyone else, that white people were allowed and right to be treating people this way. This was wrong. While I dislike the times that I had to grow up in, I am happy that I didn't have to grow up to that. I am happy that the strength of the people of yesterday brought upon the changes of today. Im glad that my children won't have to endure that kind of ignorance. My grandparents were somewhat prejudice but never once did they ever teach me to hate upon another race, they told me to love everyone, we are all gods children is what they would say. They accepted change and gave me the chance to decide for myself how I wanted to feel. And thanks to these women, Elizabeth and Hazel, for paving the way for freedom to feel this way. I look up to both these woman in this book, To Elizabeth for the courage to stand up for herself and to move on. To Hazel for the ability to accept her wrongs and make them right. Great book, it made me think and feel.(less)

like · see review

Jul 28, 2012 Kkraemer rated it 4 of 5 stars

A few weeks ago, as a friend was talking about her childhood and the grown ups in her life, I asked if she knew her family history back to the mid-19th century, did she know if any of her family had been slaves. Our conversation had been easy going and comfortable, but she just said brusquely "I'm here, aren't I?" and changed the subject to the future.

I've mulled that remark over a lot lately, and reading this book gave me more insight. Elizabeth and Hazel are people frozen, in a way, at one mom...more

like · see review

Jul 08, 2012 Doreen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook

This is the story of two people made famous by a photo taken at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Elizabeth Eckford was 15 in 1957 when she tried to enter the school and was taunted by whites as she did so. Hazel Bryan Massery stood behind Elizabeth and was captured spewing hateful epitaphs. The photo became an iconic representation of Jim Crow America and the civil rights struggle to desegregate schools.

The book details the events leading up to the historic event and photo and what...more

like · see review

Jun 04, 2012 Martin rated it 4 of 5 stars

A heartbreaking story for so many reasons. It is terrible that anyone should have to endure what 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford went through that school year in Little Rock, let alone have to relive it for the media every anniversary. What the photograph captures is just the beginning of a year of physical and emotional abuse and several years of depression, PTSD and feeling lost. The photograph captures a morning of thoughtless but ugly excitement for Hazel Massry, who soon transferred to anothe...more

like · see review

Apr 13, 2012 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars

On the morning of September 4, 1957, due to a miscommunication about where to meet, Elizabeth Eckford, one of the "Little Rock Nine", set out for her first day at Central High School. Arriving alone, she was isolated among a mob of angry, hostile whites who were determined that African Americans were not going to integrate Central High School. With cries of "lynch her" and "let's drag her over to that tree" ringing in her ears, Elizabeth was denied entrance to the school and had to walk through...more On the morning of September 4, 1957, due to a miscommunication about where to meet, Elizabeth Eckford, one of the "Little Rock Nine", set out for her first day at Central High School. Arriving alone, she was isolated among a mob of angry, hostile whites who were determined that African Americans were not going to integrate Central High School. With cries of "lynch her" and "let's drag her over to that tree" ringing in her ears, Elizabeth was denied entrance to the school and had to walk through the crowd to the bus stop to await the arrival of the next bus that would carry her to safety. One of the most iconic pictures from Little Rock in the first weeks in September was Elizabeth walking through the crowd with a white girl standing directly behind her screaming racial epithets at her. Frozen forever in that moment, Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan Massey, her tormentor, were linked together in one of the most famous photographs of the civil rights movement and provided a reminder, as if the country needed a reminder, of the personal costs of desegregation and showcased the fact that much of the burden of desegregation was placed on young people. David Margolick tells the story of these two girls and the impact that the desegregation of Central High School had on their lives. Elizabeth struggled daily with the trauma of the Little Rock desegregation year and, ironically, Hazel was pulled out of the school and sent to a small rural high school to avoid the desegregation crisis. Margolick follows the life story of both women as both had to deal with the events of 1957. The two women finally met in middle age and slowly worked their way through apology, forgiveness, and what was almost unbelievable to me, friendship. The value of this book, besides being a compelling read and well-written, is David Margolick putting human faces on one of the most shameful chapters in American history and revealing how a chance encounter on that September morning had a lasting impact on the lives of two women. (less)

1 like · like · see review

Jan 18, 2012 Jenny rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an excellent book because it is a story that needs to be told. We've probably all seen the picture and are familiar with the basic outline of what happened in Little Rock. Then we all move on and never think twice about what happened to the real people who were involved and lived through it.

This book has made me think a lot about "rising to the challenge of history." Would we recognize it in our own time? Would our actions or inactions leave us feeling ashamed years later? When it comes...more

like · see review

Jan 15, 2012 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

Fascinating story. The book talks about the details of the photo - what happened that day, when the photo was taken and by whom, the effect it had on the civil rights movement, and the aftermath of what happened in the school year after the photo was taken. All of that was really interesting to me, especially since when you learn about Little Rock school integration in school, it tends to go like this: Brown v. Board of Education desegregated schools --> Little Rock didn't want to integrate -->...more Fascinating story. The book talks about the details of the photo - what happened that day, when the photo was taken and by whom, the effect it had on the civil rights movement, and the aftermath of what happened in the school year after the photo was taken. All of that was really interesting to me, especially since when you learn about Little Rock school integration in school, it tends to go like this: Brown v. Board of Education desegregated schools --> Little Rock didn't want to integrate --> troops were sent in to make sure black students got into the school --> (insert picture of Elizabeth and Hazel and/or picture of troops around the school) --> Schools integrated! Move on to Chapter 10 where we talk about hippies and the Vietnam War (and if your teacher is really dedicated, they might just play "For What It's Worth" on the ol' CD player or let you watch Forrest Gump).

This book, however, focuses on Elizabeth and Hazel as individuals. And it really turns into a sad story. I felt just terrible for Elizabeth - she's an inspiration, but going through so much torture during integration and then bearing so much pressure from people expecting her to be this symbol of strength really seemed to take its toll. She already had a family history of mental illness, and if this book portrays her accurately, it seems like she probably had depression, PTSD, and some social phobia as well. The book goes into her reconciliation with Hazel and into the complex and rather tenuous relationship that they had years later (Hazel ended up rethinking her beliefs about race and trying hard to be more tolerant after her high school years).

It was a sad book, but definitely one I'm glad I read. It's the story you never hear from a textbook, and it says a lot about modern day race relations. It really makes you think about the burden that history places on those like Elizabeth and Hazel, forever deemed the hero and the villain. It also kind of made me hate reporters, even though I know that they are necessary and that they do important work.

The writing was good and it was very readable. I would highly recommend this book - it was so interesting and I feel like I learned so much from it.(less)

like · see review

Jan 14, 2012 Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars

Once again, I have read a book that is amazingly timely. I just finished reading a book about the Little Rock Nine and turned on the radio to hear Martin Luther King's voice.

This story actually proceeded King's work. It is the story of the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas and the very famous photo taken of the first day of school. Elizabeth Eckford, an African-American 15 year old, is walking, all alone and with great courage, toward the school entrance. She is surrou...more

like · see review

Jan 04, 2012 Jessica marked it as to-read

Okay, I don't know how to do the picture thing and am resistant to learning it, but you guys still know how to click on a link, right?

I'm addicted to Life magazine-type great-images-of-the-twentieth-century kind of things, and this is probably the famous historical photograph that has moved me the most. When I was in high school, I xeroxed the page of my history textbook that it was printed on and hung this picture on my wall. To me, it just expressed everything about how thoroughly shitty and h...more Okay, I don't know how to do the picture thing and am resistant to learning it, but you guys still know how to click on a link, right?

I'm addicted to Life magazine-type great-images-of-the-twentieth-century kind of things, and this is probably the famous historical photograph that has moved me the most. When I was in high school, I xeroxed the page of my history textbook that it was printed on and hung this picture on my wall. To me, it just expressed everything about how thoroughly shitty and horrible human beings mostly are, and also how brave certain individuals are able to be in spite of that. It's the most simultaneously demoralizing/horrific and inspirational/uplifting picture I've ever seen: all these furious racists screaming slurs, threatening to lynch this schoolgirl who's walking into Central High all by herself in her lovely fifties dress and neat sunglasses, looking so poised and cool and -- particularly impressive to me as a high school student -- stylish. As an adult looking back, now Eckford doesn't seem nearly as impassive as I'd remembered (I think that's partly because the picture in my history textbook was actually this one, where she looks a bit more like she's successfully tuning them out). She looks to me less like an awesome warrior and more like a young, frightened girl in an unthinkable situation; but that makes her experience that much more moving and impressive. I'm almost twenty years older than she was on that day, and I've never done anything even a fraction as brave as that, nor can I imagine myself rising to such a terrifying occasion.

I always though the screaming white woman behind Eckford was an adult, and didn't realize that she was also fifteen. I just read the review of this book in the New York Review of Books, and am very interested in finding out what happened to Eckford and about the troubled relationship that developed between the two women later on in their lives. The whole thing sounds, like American history itself, both fascinating and incredibly depressing.(less)

4 likes · like · see review

Dec 23, 2011 Jane rated it 4 of 5 stars

When I was preparing to leave North Dakota for the college town of Galesburg, Illinois, my dad mentioned to me that among my classmates at Knox College would be one of the Little Rock Nine. Sure enough, when I moved into my triple room on the third floor in Whiting Hall, I realized that across the hall and down about two rooms from mine lived Elizabeth Eckford, Liz to her classmates, and her roommate Marcie. Liz and I were in the same French 201 class taught by the fearsome Dr. Elna Jeffries, an...more When I was preparing to leave North Dakota for the college town of Galesburg, Illinois, my dad mentioned to me that among my classmates at Knox College would be one of the Little Rock Nine. Sure enough, when I moved into my triple room on the third floor in Whiting Hall, I realized that across the hall and down about two rooms from mine lived Elizabeth Eckford, Liz to her classmates, and her roommate Marcie. Liz and I were in the same French 201 class taught by the fearsome Dr. Elna Jeffries, and it soon became clear that my Fargo French was on a par with her Little Rock French. We commiserated over the fact that we couldn't understand what Dr. Jeffries was saying (either Dr. J's accent didn't match what I'd been taught, or she talked faster than my ears could listen), and before tests we'd cram together. Out of shyness, or wanting to respect her privacy, or being totally clueless, probably the latter, I never asked her about her Little Rock experience. Second semester we weren't in the same class, and we took to greeting one another in the large shared hall bathroom with its multiple sinks, showers and stalls before rushing off to our different schedules. The following year, Liz didn't come back to Knox, and neither did Marcie. No one I knew had any information, and we assumed they'd transferred to other schools. Years passed: I saw her picture in history books. Recently, I read about her in the Post when despite being invited she didn't come to Obama's inauguration.

Now I've had the opportunity to learn what Liz endured in 1957, the cruelty, the loneliness, and what she continues to endure, and I am overwhelmed and awed by her courage. This book opened my eyes to details I almost wish I didn't know about that awful year Liz spent as one of nine African American students at Central High School in Little Rock. Years ago I met Ernest Green, the eldest of the Little Rock Nine, when he visited my former school/workplace as the guest of an American history teacher. As the book explains, his experience was different from Liz's, and he has always framed that experience and the following years in a positive light.

Ernest's positive life experience has not been shared by Liz Eckford. My heart has been wrenched in reading of the years since the famous picture of Liz was taken, of the ups and downs she has experienced, of her ability to attempt a friendship with Hazel, the white girl caught in the famous photograph with Liz.

As much as I am impressed by Liz's courage, so too am I impressed the ability to change, to grow, to confront her past shown by Hazel, the 15 year old racist who has spent her life making amends for her ugly behavior on that fateful September day. Margolick does a good job presenting the views of both women. Especially interesting, too, is Margolick's explanation of how a news story describing the Louis Armstrong's angry outburst when he was asked about Little Rock possibly led Eisenhower to send in the Guard to force the integration of Central High School.

If you are old enough to remember 1957, you should read this book. If you are younger, be grateful that you've grown up in a different culture than that of Little Rock in that long ago time.

On a personal note, I was astounded to read that the author, Margolick, learned from Liz that during her year living in Whiting Hall, she sometimes stayed out all night, sleeping in the ladies room at the train station. Wow! Mother Meeks, our house mother, had me firmly under her thumb! "Gracious girls make gracious women," was her signature phrase, but she could be extremely forceful (ungracious?) when disciplining girls who dared ring the dorm bell for late admission. I never dared even think about being late for closing time. (You youngsters can roll your eyes at what life in the dark ages must've been like.) I guess a young woman who could integrate a hostile high school wouldn't be deterred by the likes of Mother Meeks. Before Knox had a chance to make a gracious woman of her, Liz had made her own mark on history. (less)

3 likes · like · see review

Nov 14, 2011 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Fast read about two women who were on different sides during the school desegregation efforts in Little Rock in 1957. Elizabeth was one of the Little Rock 9 who integrated the school. Her experience was very traumatic and affected the rest of her life. (An interesting point is that her parents didn't really seem to care one way or the other if she did this. I would have thought that these students would have needed a strong parental push to do this.) Hazel was made immortal through a journalist'...more

like · see review

Apr 14, 2012 Pat rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a very interesting book about the first year of integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas featuring two of the young women directly involved in the controversy and aftermath of the forced desegregation of the school. President Eisenhower sent National Guard troops to LIttle Rock to protect the 8 students who agreed to integrate the school in the fall of 1957. The book details the life of Elizabeth Eckford, one of the black students, and Hazel Bryan Massery, a while stu...more

like · see review

May 13, 2012 Elizabeth R rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a very interesting piece of history that I did not know much about. I wasn't wild about the author's writing style-- sometimes it was very confusing, trying to make sense of who or what he was referring to in some sentences-- but the topic itself was interesting enough to keep me plowing through. This is the story of Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine who were the first black students to be integrated with Central High School's white student body. Due to a lack of communicati...more

like · see review

Dec 07, 2011 itpdx rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, lwv-suggest

This is the story of two girls caught in an iconic photo taken on the day that nine young black students were to attend their first day at a segregated white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Elizabeth, black and alone, is stoically walking away while being followed by a group of whites including Hazel, who is shown angrily shouting.
Margolick sets the scene--the backgrounds of the two, the racism manifest in the city, the course of school desegregation at the time. He follows with what happ...more

like · see review

Feb 28, 2012 Allison rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non

A very informative book about the central figures in the most famous photo of the Little Rock Nine. Beginning with the two fifteen-year-old girls getting ready for school on September 4, 1957, the book follows them through that day and the rocky years of integration that followed. Their stories are told individually, regardless of how intertwined their lives actually were, which sets a good tone for the book. When Hazel publicly apologized to Elizabeth in 1997, the press jumped all over it, both...more

like · see review

Oct 13, 2011 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I won this book from Goodreads, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The writing style was more narrative than I had expected, which meant that I was able to read it very rapidly. At times it lacked connectivity, like when Margolick described Grace Lorch and her background and Louis Armstrong's reaction to the Little Rock photograph. I found these sections interesting and I liked what they added to the story, I just wished that there was a better flow to and from them. I often found that I had to stop a...more

like · see review

Nov 20, 2012 Barbara rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: american-history, civil-rights, nonfiction

A balanced and nuanced look at the two women in the iconic photograph of Elizabeth Eckford’s initial attempt to integrate Little Rock Central High School in September 1957. As a parent, I could not have sanctioned Elizabeth’s choice, as she (perhaps inevitably) pays dearly for her bravery as a pioneer in the emerging civil rights movement. Hazel, the tormentor, fares differently. Despite limited education, teenaged marriage and early motherhood, Hazel blooms into an expressive and progressive in...more

like · see review

Aug 31, 2012 Alyce Rocco rated it 3 of 5 stars

"The names Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan Massery may not be well known, but the image of them from September 1957 surely is..." book blurb for Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock by David Magolick.

Actually, no, the photo is not known to me. Elizabeth Eckford is one of student dubbed the Little Rock Nine, who desegregated the town's Central High School in 1957. The only name from the story that was familiar to me is Ernest Green (one of the nine). Judging from the book, that photo...more

like · see review

Nov 21, 2012 Lee rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Little Rock Nine were amazing people but I think that Elizabeth Eckford is my favorite now. Here strength was amazing but how she suffered was never really known until this book. Then when her famous verbal attacker reentered her life and "apologized" some interesting events took place. For a time they even became friends but that was difficult to say the least.

What I learned is that we are all in need of love and acceptance and we need to reach out to others every day. Who is in my life tha...more

like · see review

Oct 15, 2012 Kassi Novello rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was hoping this would be a transforming look at history. It wasn't. It made me sad. I wish it had only been written about the character who, as a child, was at the center of such demonic, racist hate. She was put in an impossible situation, and I don't think you come back from it. My heart aches for the beauty in this child's soul as she gets ready for her first day--integrating an all white school-- with an unknowable torrent of hate awaiting her. Her perfect white blouse, her best skirt...th...more

like · see review

Mar 21, 2012 Lori rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, non-fiction

This book tells the story behind and surrounding one the iconic pictures of desegregation, and the story is told well.

Elizabeth was a young, black girl in Little Rock, Arkansas who was chosen ? volunteered to be one of the nine who were to enter Central High school to put an end to segregation. Hazel was the young, white girl pictured behind a stoic Elizabeth yelling with palpable hatred.

The story follows both their lives over the course of the next 50 years or so.

At the beginning of the book, I...more

like · see review

Mar 21, 2012 Jennifer W rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Compulsively readable. I have a lot of admiration for both women, neither of whom I knew anything about before reading this book. The discrimination, the hatred, the fear that Elizabeth felt walking into that school, and the rest of the year there, I can't even imagine how hard that must have been. As for Hazel, who hasn't done something stupid or hateful as a teenager? Fortunately for most of us, it isn't caught on tape. She has to live with it the rest of her life, and no one will forget it. A...more

like · see review

Oct 29, 2011 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2011

This is a story of two lives that became forever entwined by a picture. The story takes place in Little Rock, Ak in 1957 when court-ordered school integration was being implemented. That year a group of black teens, later known as "the nine", were to be enrolled in the all white Central High School. The first day of school was frought with racial tension. Police and National Guard were called out to ostensibly keep the peace as angry, hate-filled families and local residents protested the integr...more

like · see review

Feb 27, 2012 Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an honest-to-God version of The Help. A true story about the relationship between a famous African American woman and a notorious white woman during the Civil Rights era and up to the present. Elizabeth Eckford was one of the first students integrated into Little Rock High School in 1957. In a world-famous photograph, she walks stoically toward the school while a white girl (Hazel) hurls insults at her, her face twisted in hatred. Both women's lives were shaped by the incident and the ph...more

like · see review

Sep 25, 2012 Drick rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a fascinating book looking at the lives of two people Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan Massery whose faces were famous in a picture of Elizabeth as one of the "Little Rock Nine" sought to enter Little Rock, AR Central High School in 1957. In the background Hazel has a screaming face and became the "face" of intractable white racism of the 1950's. This book follows the lives of these two women since that fateful day in September 1957. After years of being linked in a famous picture, Eliz...more

like · see review

Jan 28, 2012 Catherine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical

Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas was one of the first high schools in the south to be desegregated following the Brown v Board of Education ruling three years earlier. Elizabeth Eckford was one of the “Little Rock Nine,” the group of black students who enrolled in 1957 at Central High School that September, and Hazel Bryan was the angry white student who appeared behind Elizabeth in a famous photograph taken the first day the black students came to the school. This book describes tha...more

like · see review

Oct 29, 2011 Zohar - ManOfLaBook.com rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock by David Margolick is a non fiction book about two ladies who were made famous by the press. The book looks history square in the eye and doesn’t flinch.

Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan were captured for posterity in a photograph by Will Counts. The picture which is a disgrace to the Jim Crow south struck chords in many people in American on many levels and still does so today.

However, the two women in the picture, Elizabeth Eck...more Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock by David Margolick is a non fiction book about two ladies who were made famous by the press. The book looks history square in the eye and doesn’t flinch.

Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan were captured for posterity in a photograph by Will Counts. The picture which is a disgrace to the Jim Crow south struck chords in many people in American on many levels and still does so today.

However, the two women in the picture, Elizabeth Eckford walking in a dignified manner away from an assaulting Hazel Bryan, soon grew out of the picture, maturing and resenting the role which they were not prepared to play.

Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock by David Margolick is an amazing book which is readable and thoughtful. Mr. Margolick managed to tackle tough issues with honesty and sensitivity which are rare in today’s world.

The picture captured a moment in time which shook the world. It had everything, a martyr, a villain and history. However, we still remember those two women, the dignified Elizabeth and the shouting Hazel as they were in September of 1957. Mr. Margolick finds out what happened after the picture was taken in a fair, even, honest and patient account.

The moment shaped Elizabeth’s future. She suffered tremendously from her instant fame, her abuse for years at Central High School and the aftermath of her brave brush with history. Hazel, on the other hand, was playing hooky from school and forgot that moment in almost an instant.

Years later, Hazel who realized what she has done called to apologize but it wasn’t until 1997 when the two women were reunited and formed a fragile bond. I cannot judge neither of the two. I cannot even imagine going through the hardships Elizabeth has endured or the mental anguish Hazel has had after being made, for years, the face of segregation.

The book has surprised me more times than I could count. For instance, the segregationist leaders abhorred the picture because it made them look bad, or the way Elizabeth and Hazel handled their individual and collective experiences over the years or even the way Oprah behaved.

This book has a lot to teach our society. It doesn’t see history in rose colored glasses, nor the present, nor the future. It presents things as they are, giving the reader food for thought.

For more reviews and bookish thoughts please visit: http://www.ManOfLaBook.com (less)

like · see review

title link	preview: Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock
avg rating	preview: Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock Goodreads rating: 3.75 (485 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11067867-elizabeth-and-hazel?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344672225l/11067867.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11067867-elizabeth-and-hazel?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock by David Margolick[/url]

Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (10)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Books by David Margolick

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Elizabeth and Haz...

Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

combineOther Editions (10)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Books by David Margolick

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Elizabeth and Haz...

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (10)