The Embattled Ladies of Little Rock

Scott, Arkansas: The Author, 1972. Paperback. Very Good. 280p. plus 35 (or so) appendices (we counted counted 110 total pages in the appendices). Photocopied. 28 cm. All material printed on one side only. material printed on one side only. Original blue flexible wrapper with black plastic comb binding. Orville Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas, had closed the public high schools in Little Rock rather than permit African American students to attend the same schools as white students. Brewer and and a number of other prominent white women founded Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools (often shortened to WEC) to support integrating and reopening (truncated) the closed schools. The schools remained closed for the 1958-1959 sachool year but were finally forced to integrate. WEC was all white, at least partly because Brewer and others felt that their group would be more effective in Arkansas if they were able to say that their focus was on education rather than integration. This volume is Brewer's history of the group and her involvement in it. OCLC locates 2 holdings (Arkansas State Library and Central Arkansas Library System). Lost Cause Press published a book with the same title (with an added subtitle) in 1998 seven years after the death of Brewer. We have not seen a copy of the Lost Cause book. Here is the last paragraph of Brewer's brief introduction in our copy: "I feel vastly relieved to have all of this record on paper after thinking about it with good intentions for twelve years while being absorbed by more active pursuits in the elusive spirit of brotherhood. It saddens me that these troubled times convince me that it is not advisable to make this manuscript available to the public now. I relinquish it to libraries with the hope that it may prove of some value to students in the years to come. (Inventory #: 93723)