Bridges, Ruby – Integrating Southern Schols
By
John C Abercrombie
Today is day 6 of 31 and the focus of this post is Ruby Bridges a six year old who made national and international news as the first Black youth to integrate the New Orleans school system. She faced all manner of harassment including daily death threats as White parents withdrew their children from school rather than even allow them in the same building at the same time.
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This is the story of a courageous six-year-old Black girl who changed the school system in America. Subjected to unimaginable hatred requiring federal marshals to escort her to school and remain on alert. During a time, when White parents were more than willing to take their kids out of school and deny them an education just so they would not even be in the same building as this innocent Black child. Very slowly, some parents brought their children back to school.
Ruby was born Ruby Nell Bridges on September 8, 1954, the same year as the historic decision in the Brown v Board of decision of Topeka Kansas. She was the oldest of five children born to Abon ad Lucille Bridges farmers who moved to New Orleans in search of better opportunities for themselves and their children.
At the age of six Ruby advanced the cause of civil rights when she became the first Black student to attend the previously all-White William Frantz Elementary School, becoming the first integrated elementary school in the South.
Attention has brought forth additinal information that there were three other Black girls who also integerated the same school system on the same day. Due to a quirk of fate, we did not learn about them until recently. They will be featured in a future post.
The above is just one example of history being concealed, with only controlled snippets being allowed to be shared. Become a regular of amazingblackhistory.com and see how we are continually working to reveal shocking details about history.
This in no way takes away from the heoric achievements of Ruby Bridges and was newsworthy in its own right.
Before being allowed to enter the school district created an entrance exam of which Ruby passed. Here we see what seems like an innocent measure, but is it really neutral when White kids do not have to take the test to gain entrance? Seems more a way to disqualify unwanted students.
It was not an easy decision to send Ruby to the school and her parents were torn until her mother convinced her father that it would be a good thing, not only for Ruby, but for all kids. Her father had been worried about her safety. This is because of the open hostility that may be vented on Blacks, including children.
We often overlook the nobel cause that people were fighting for so that we would not be subjected to the same treatment today. They subjected themselves to be the bulls eye of unimaginable hatred, even death.
It was a decision that is more complicated than it appears on the surface. White people see it as just a Black child wanting to go to a White school. Black parents see it as an opportunity to have access to first rate facilities, smaller class size, state of the art equipment, new books and the list goes on. This is in the face of the separate but equal doctrine which would not be recognized as equal by anyone!
Although escorted by federal marshals Ruby had to walk past crowds of screaming Whites screaming vicious slurs at the six-year-old. One of the persistent protesters was a woman holding a Black doll in a coffin and another who yelled that she was going to poison her. All of the White parents had pulled out their children although Ruby was only in one classroom. The only teacher who would agree to teach her was Barbara Henry a White Boston native. Ruby only ate food brought from home because of the threat to poison her made by the consistent protester. Ruby never missed a day of school that year.
All was not bad as some White families supported integration and some Northerners sent money to the family, some even protested throughout the city. Now the part that most people not directly affected do not see is that the attempt to provide the best for your child and future generations is costly.
Ruby’s father lost his job and grocery stores refused to sell to them. Even Ruby’s grandparents were negatively affected as they were evicted from their sharecropping homestead where they had lived over 25 years. This is one of the sins of sharecropping as you are deprived of the opportunity to own your own property by unethical partners.
Most people have a hard tie eve imagining that such actions are even possible, but this was normal and, in those days. Many vestiges of it linger to this very day. Just as this happened the lynchings were intended to intimidate the Black community. Blacks very existence was dependent on toeing the line. Get over the lie, lose your lively hood, be subject to terrorism, be ostracized in the town you live in, and the list goes on.
Ruby’s bravery paid off because years later her four nieces were able to attend the school. While this is extremely slow progress, there are others calling for more time, as if we may forget what we are after. We have waited four hundred years, why wait one second longer?
In 1964 the noted and well respected artist Norman Rockwell celebrated her courage with the well knowing painting of her first day at school entitled, “The Problem We All Live With.”
After graduating from a desegregated high school Ruby became a travel agent, married, and had four sons. She was able to reunite with her beloved teacher, MS Henry in the id 1990s, and for a time the pair did speaking engagements together. Ruby Bridges Hall has written two books. She also won the Carter G Woodson Book award. Woodson is best known as the “Father of Black History”
In 1999, Ruby established The Ruby Bridges Foundation to promote tolerance and create change through education. In 2000, she was made an honorary deputy marshal in a ceremony in Washington, DC.
The story of Ruby Bridges demonstrates the commitment that many paid in the cause of advancing the case. Her father lost his job, her grandparents were even kicked off of the property that they had worked for over 25 years. There have always been hidden consequences to taking a stand for what is right, History has completely avoided it, but that does not mean it should be disregarded. It is just these types of things that must be discussed!
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For Black History Month 2020, we posted daily. These posts focus on the reality of Black life in America after the Civil War culminating in the landmark Brown v Board of Education that changed so many of the earlier practices. To see the posts, click here
For Black History Month 2021, we focused on Black Medical Achievements, Inventors and Scientists. To see those posts, click here.
For Black History Month 2022 we focused on “Health and Wellness”. To see the entire series, click this link.
For Women’s History Month 2022 we introduced you to 31 amazing Black women we should all know. To see the entire series, click this link.
We also posted a 5 part mini-series on the 100th anniversary of one of the most horrific massacres in the history of America. Hundreds of Blacks were slaughtered and 10,000 left homeless in this largely unknown event. To see the posts, click here.
We also did a mini-series on the Schomburg Center for Research a most amazing collection of Black history and culture. To see this mini-series, click here
The Schomburg Center
A world class collection of Black History inspired by a 5th grade teacher who told Arturo Schomburg that there was NO African history. Nothing of value. Schomburg dedicated his life to proving that teacher wrong and Schomburg did an amazing job with his collection.
Schomburg – The man who built a library
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Continue to scroll for fascinating Videos and Books to enhance your learning experience.
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The Story of Ruby Bridges
Thank you, 3rd graders, for recommending this book! Ruby Bridges is one of my favorite heroes. The book, The Story of Ruby Bridges was written by Robert Coles and illustrated by George Ford. It was published by Scholastic Books.
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I Am Ruby Bridges Hardcover – Picture Book, September 6, 2022
Ruby Bridges tells her story as never before and shares the events of the momentous day in 1960 when Ruby became the first Black child to integrate the all-white William Franz Elementary as a six year old little girl — a personal and intimate look through a child’s lens at a landmark moment in our Civil Rights history.
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Autism
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Ruby Bridges Fought Racism at 6 Years Old | Inspirational Documentary | Goalcast
At 6 years old, Ruby Bridges went to school in the protection of U.S. Marshals due to threats from white families
es who didn’t want a Black child attending school with their children.
her attending a formerly all white elementary school. Ostracized by teachers & peers, Ruby soon realized she was the target of their hate simply for being born Black. Today, she speaks on the experience & the continued fight against anti-Black racism in America.
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Through My Eyes: Ruby Bridges
In November 1960, all of America watched as a tiny six-year-old black girl, surrounded by federal marshals, walked through a mob of screaming segregationists and into her school. An icon of the civil rights movement, Ruby Bridges chronicles each dramatic step of this pivotal event in history through her own words.
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Living With Autism as an Adult
ABH – living with autism as an adult
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Freedoms’s Legacy: A Conversation with Ruby Bridges Hall
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This Is Your Time age 6-12
Inspired by the recent wave of activism led by young people fighting for racial justice, civil rights icon Ruby Bridges – who, at the age of 6, was the first Black child to integrate an all-White elementary school in New Orleans – shares her story and offers a powerful call to action with this elegant audiobook.
Written as a letter from civil rights activist and icon Ruby Bridges to the listener, This Is Your Time is both a recounting of Ruby’s experience as a child who had no choice but to be escorted to class by federal marshals when she was chosen as one of the first Black students to integrate New Orleans’ all-White public school system and an appeal to generations to come to effect change.
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Air Fryer
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Ruby Bridges – Trailblazing as a Child in the Jim Crow South | The Daily Social Distancing Show
Ruby Bridges talks about being the first Black child to desegregate her all-white school, the work that still needs to be done to fully integrate America’s school system and how her book “This Is Your Time” addresses a new generation of activists.
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Ruby, Head High: Ruby Bridge’s First Day of School
Inspired by an iconic Norman Rockwell painting and translated from an original French text, this is a story about the day a little girl held her head high and changed the world.
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Mobility
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Painting Tour: “The Problem We All Live With” (1964)
Talk given by Norman Rockwell Museum Chief Curator and Deputy Director Stephanie Plunkett on Norman Rockwell’s iconic 1964 illustration for “Look” Magazine.
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Ancestry Test Kits
Discover the deep rich heritage that is you using these options
ABH – Ancestry Test Kits
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The following book is a great addition to the above and can be used to answer and further your search for ancestors that can bring pride to you. We come from strong roots, discover and take pride!
Black Roots: A Beginners Guide To Tracing The African American Family Tree
Trace, document, record, and write your family’s history with this easy-to-read, step-by-step authoritative guide.
Finally, here is the fun, easy-to-use guide that African Americans have been waiting for since Alex Haley published Roots more than twenty-five years ago. Written by the leading African American professional genealogist in the United States who teaches and lectures widely, Black Roots highlights some of the special problems, solutions, and sources unique to African Americans. Based on solid genealogical principles and designed for those who have little or no experience researching their family’s past, but valuable to any genealogist, this book explains everything you need to get started, including: where to search close to home, where to write for records, how to make the best use of libraries and the Internet, and how to organize research, analyze historical documents, and write the family history.
This guide also includes:
-real case histories that illustrate the unique challenges posed to African Americans and how they were solved
-more than 100 illustrations and photographs of actual documents and records you’re likely to encounter when tracing your family tree
-samples of all the worksheets and forms you’ll need to keep your research in order
-a list of the traps even experienced researchers often fall into that hamper their research
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We often do not look at what was behind the struggle for civil rights. It was more than just attending a school with White kids, it was attending a physically superior school that received greater attention, superior quality books, smaller class size, excellence all measures of success that are considered when assessing schools. The price is often overlooked as we see that eve Ruby’s grandparents were evicted from the lad the had worked for more than 25 ears and lived in another town. The hatred was widespread and deeply ingrained.