Carlotta’s Special Dress: How a Walk to School Changed Civil Rights History

Underlining the intersection of everyday and historic moments, Walls LaNier and Frazier Page take a child’s perspective to recount Walls LaNier’s experience in integrating Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., in 1957. When segregation laws change, and Carlotta Walls (b. 1942) receives money from her uncle for a store-bought dress, she picks a black frock covered in letters and numbers—“The perfect dress for a perfect first day.” But the first day of school is delayed by protests, and even after lawyers affirm the right of Black students to attend, the Arkansas National Guard turns them away. Disheartened, Walls packs up the special dress, and it’s nowhere to be seen after President Eisenhower sends the 101st Airborne to escort the Little Rock Nine into Central, in a moment when “the world is watching us win.” Textile patterns weave throughout Brantley-Newton’s loosely worked digital collage illustrations, which focus on portraiture. An abrupt ending depicts the frock on display in a museum. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. An author’s note and timeline conclude. Ages 6–8. (Jan.)