Melba Pattilo Beals
Melba is the main character and narrator of Warriors Don't Cry. She is one of the Little Rock Nine, who integrated Central High in 1957. Melba is intelligent, respectful, and a faithful Christian; she enjoys music and writing and hopes to attend college to become a reporter.
Grandma India
India is Melba's grandmother and role model. She supports Melba during the integration of Central High School, encouraging her faith and fortitude.
Lois Patillo
Lois is Melba's mother and a seventh-grade English teacher. She is highly educated, and one of the first black graduates of the University of Arkansas.
Conrad Pattillo
Conrad is Melba's younger brother. He enjoys playing Monopoly and with model trains. Conrad stands up for Melba, though he does not fully understand the magnitude of the challenges she faces at Central High.
Daisy Bates
Daisy Bates is the president of the NAACP Arkansas chapter and co-owner of the Arkansas State Press. She oversees the integration of Little Rock Central High.
Orval Faubus
Orval Faubus is the Governor of Arkansas during the Central High School integration. He stokes racial tensions with inflammatory speeches, attempts to deny and delay integration using the National Guard and court cases, and ultimately closes down all Little Rock schools for an entire year to prevent integration.
Andy
Andy is Melba's most violent bully at Central High School. He physically assaults Melba, threatens her with weapons, and tries to murder her.
Link
Link is a white Central High senior from a rich segregationist family who acts as a double agent, relaying the segregationists' plans to Melba.
Mrs. Huckaby
Mrs. Huckaby is the vice-principal for girls who receive the Little Rock Nine's reports on violence and bullying. Though Melba believes Mrs. Huckaby is "fair" and "reasonable," she cracks under pressure from the segregationist students and administration and discourages the students from reporting violence.
Minnijean Brown
Minnijean is Melba's "special friend" who joins the Little Rock Nine. She and Melba live a block apart and share many interests and dreams. Minnijean is hurt by her experiences at Central High, especially being excluded from extracurriculars. When Minnijean accidentally spills chili on bullies, she is suspended and later expelled.
Ernest Green
Ernest Green was the eldest member of the Little Rock Nine and a member of Melba's church. He is the first Black student to graduate from Little Rock Central High.
Elizabeth Eckford
A "quiet, private" member of the Little Rock Nine, Elizabeth is friendly, "regal in her bearing," and an excellent student. On the first day of school, Elizabeth arrives at Central High alone and is forced from the school by the National Guard and a violent mob.
Terrence Roberts
Melba's friend since first grade, Terrence is a high school junior and member of the Little Rock Nine who Melba considers funny and intelligent.
Jefferson Thomas
Jefferson is a "quiet, soft-spoken athlete" with excellent grades. He is a member of the Little Rock Nine.
Thelma Mothershed
Thelma is Melba's friend and a member of the Little Rock Nine. She is physically frail and suffers from a heart condition.
Carlotta Walls
Carlotta Walls is an adventurous athlete with a positive attitude who joins the Little Rock Nine and eventually graduates from Central High.
Gloria Ray
Gloria is a member of Melba's Sunday School class and the Little Rock Nine who is "meticulous about her attire" and studies and speaks carefully.
Mrs. Pickwick
Melba's shorthand teacher who offers her compassion and refuses to tolerate the other students' racism.
Danny
Danny is a young soldier who serves as Melba's personal guard when she begins school at Central High.
Sammy (Sammie) Dean Parker
Sammy Dean Parker is a segregationist bully who spreads false rumors about the Little Rock Nine throughout the school and to the media, such as that the NAACP pays the Little Rock Nine.
Virgil Blossom
Virgil Blossom was the Little Rock school superintendent during the integration of Central High. Despite opposition from Governor Faubus, Blossom created a plan for gradual school integration, and was then removed from office after the Little Rock Nine's first school year. In Melba's memory, Blossom condescend to Mother Lois and did not take student complaints seriously.
