The fire of Ruby Bridges

This month, as millions of children around the globe wrap up their school years outside of the classroom, I am remembering Ruby Bridges. Bridges, of course, was the first African-American child to attend an all-white elementary school in the South, after the famous Brown vs. Board of Education ruling.

Ruby Bridges leaving William Frantz on December 5, 1960.

Bridges’ mother pushed hard for her to attend a nearby white school, stating that she wanted her daughter to get a good education and that this step was important for all African-American children. Ruby Bridges was just five years old when she took the test to determine whether she was eligible, and she was one of six African-American children in New Orleans who passed the test. She was the sole African-American student who decided to attend William Frantz Elementary School and the first to attend an all-white school in the South. In November of 1960, accompanied by federal marshals, Bridges arrived at the school in the midst of a large and increasingly angry crowd. On that first day, nearly all of the other children were kept home by their parents, and Bridges spent the majority of her time in the principal’s office.

Slowly, some parents began to send their children back to the school. But every teacher except one refused to teach Bridges – only Barbara Henry, a new teacher at the school from Boston, was willing. And so, for the entire school year, Henry taught Bridges, and Bridges was the only student in her class. Federal marshals continued to accompany her to school, and even to the restroom. The Bridges family suffered enormous setbacks – her father lost his job, her grandparents were removed from their land, and the family was banned from the grocery store they shopped at. But slowly, the community began to offer the Bridges some solace – a neighbor offered a job, community members would watch the house, and citizens would walk with the federal marshals and Ruby Bridges to school. In her second year, students in her grade began to return and she was fully integrated into the school.

1964 painting by Norman Rockwell, The Problem We All Live With, depicting Ruby on her way to school. Image from Flickr.

This incredible story summarizes the lengths that three groups are willing to go to in order to ensure one child’s education – parents, teachers, and individuals. The Bridges family faced enormous adversity to send Ruby to a school where they felt she could get a higher quality education. Her mother, in particular, advocated strongly for her to take the placement test, and then pushed her to attend once she got into William Frantz. Barbara Henry was as alone as Ruby was – she didn’t know many people since she had just moved to New Orleans, and she faced mobs of angry protestors, threats, and hateful comments when she arrived at school. And Ruby herself endured the most – an entire school of students that were kept home when she arrived, parents who did not want their kids exposed to her, and a whole faculty that did not want to educate her (save one teacher). She’s a testament to the strength and will of children and the power that education can hold over even our youngest citizens. And to me, she is a reminder that each of our 6,000 students in rural Zambia have the fire of Ruby within them – the desire to learn, the determination to endure, and the spirit to succeed.

-Reshma