Ruby Bridges – The First African American Child to Desegregate Schools

Education is everyone’s birthright, but was it always the same? In 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges unintentionally became the flagbearer of civil rights and defied ‘black and white segregation in schools.’ Earlier the same year, Louisiana had outlawed segregation in American schools. Ruby passed the entrance test for admission into all-white schools along with five others and became the icon of integrated education as a kid.

Ruby Bridges, an African-American civil rights activist, was the first child of that ethnicity to attend the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana. Upon her selection, her parents were divided on whether to send their daughter to the school. While her father was reluctant to send his daughter to William Frantz, her mother was determined to let Ruby enjoy the educational opportunities denied to them. Even the school was not so eager to admit Ruby. They dragged her admission process until November 1960. She was supposed to attend the school with three other fellow children, but they were transferred to a different school, leaving Bridges to face the heat alone.

On her first day, and every day since then for a year, four federal marshals escorted Ruby to the school. Protesters crowded the school gates, hurling racial slurs at Ruby. A woman held a black baby doll in a coffin while another threatened to poison the child. She spent her first day of school in the principal’s office as the angry white parents withdrew their children from the school. Even all the teachers except one boycotted the school. Barbara Henry was the only teacher who willingly taught Ruby for a year. She ate her lunch alone and played with her teacher during the break but never missed a day of school. On the second day, a white student broke the boycott and attended the school. Soon, others followed, and, the protests subsided after a few days, but Ruby remained a class of one for a year.

She was assigned a child psychologist, Robert Coles, during her first year, who met her weekly. Later, he wrote The Story of Ruby Bridges, a children’s book, to educate other children on the story of Ruby Bridges. Norman Rockwell, an American painter, painted Ruby’s first day of school in 1964 entitled ‘The Problem We All Live With‘.

Bridges watched the footage of her first day of school sixty years later and recalled her thoughts. She shared that the crowds and the chaos at the age of six did not scare her as she thought people were gathered to celebrate the occasion of Mardi Gras. Seeing the footage after so long, she was horrified with how the events unfolded and shared she could not fathom today sending her children and grandchildren out in such an environment.

In 1999, she formed the Ruby Bridges Foundation to promote tolerance, appreciation, and respect for all differences. In the mid-1990s, Ruby reunited with her first teacher and engaged in several talks. In 2000, she became an honorary deputy marshal. Later, she wrote two books sharing her early experiences and received the Carter G. Woodson Book Award. 

–Sangita Goel works as a Content Writer for a wellness and style blog and loves to spend her leisure time reading and catching up on web series.