Bitters in the Honey: Tales of Hope and Disappointment across Divides of Race and Time
Most Americans are familiar with the story of what happened at Little Rock's Central High School in September of 1957. Indeed, the image of Central High's massive double staircase--and of nine black teenagers climbing that staircase, clutching their schoolbooks by National Guardsmen with fixed bayonets--has become wedded in the American consciousness to the history of the civil-rights struggle in this country. Drawing on oral histories, Beth Roy tells the story of Central High from a fresh angle. Her interviews with white alumni of Central High investigate the reasons behind their resistance to desegration. The alumni, now near retirement age, tell stories of the shaping of white identities in the latter half of the twentieth century, of dissatisfaction and even anger lingering still after forty years. This treatment of the Central High crisis is unique among studies done to date. It will help readers to better comprehend the complexity of racism, not only as it!  was evidenced at Central High in 1957, but as it continues to impact our lives today.