A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School

At Michigan State, LaNier’s counselor warns her that the pre-med track will be difficult due to her missed classes, but LaNier is determined to become a doctor. However, for the first time, she has social freedom. Most of her time is spent with new friends and attending football games. That quarter, she receives her first C and D grades. She continues to struggle in winter and spring quarters.

In the summer, she gets a job in New York. Mrs. Bates is staying in Harlem and invites LaNier to have dinner with Langston Hughes. LaNier spends time with Ernest and Terrance, who also work in the city, and her Aunt Juanita and Uncle Freddie.

On her way back to Michigan, she stays with an uncle in Denver who once played in the “Negro Leagues” and is starstruck by his old friend, Satchel Paige. Her Uncle Byron and Aunt Christine sense her discontent with Michigan and say that she can stay with them if she wants to attend school in Denver. The offer stays on her mind through the next year as she continues to struggle. Mother and Daddy agree to let her leave Michigan State and go to Denver.

In Denver that fall, LaNier applies to work as a teller at a telephone company and enrolls in night courses at the University of Colorado.