Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor: Culinary Anthropologist, Dr. Wangari Maathai: The story of a leader in social, environmental, and political activism and first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Towards Hawaiian Sovereignty: Legacy of Dr. Haunani-Kay Trask, Chronicles of American Women: Your History Makers, Women Writing History: A Coronavirus Journaling Project, We Who Believe in Freedom: Black Feminist DC, Learning Resources on Women's Political Participation. Six-year-old Ruby Bridges walks into William Frantz Elementary School, accompanied by federal marshals and taunted by angry crowds, instantly becoming a symbol of the civil rights. The two worked together in an otherwise vacant classroom for an entire year. [21], Like hundreds of thousands of others in the greater New Orleans area, Bridges lost her home (in Eastern New Orleans) to catastrophic flooding from the failure of the levee system during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Omissions? Barbara Henry, a white Boston native, was the only teacher willing to accept and teach Ruby. Bridges would be the only African American student to attend the William Frantz School, near her home, and the first Black child to attend an all-white elementary school in the South. At the tender age of six, Ruby Bridges advanced the cause of civil rights in November 1960 when she became the first African American student to integrate an elementary school in the South. Bridges says her family could never have afforded the dresses, socks, and shoes that are documented in photographs of her escort by U.S. He saw Bridges once a week either at school or at her home. By Bridges' second year at Frantz School, it seemed everything had changed. Bridges was the eldest of five children born to Abon and Lucille Bridges. She later became a civil rights activist. "Ruby Bridges." Charlayne Hunter-Gault Near the end of the first year, things began to settle down. 2. These three men were the head figures for the civil rights movement fighting for black rights. Accessed February 2, 2015. $23 Billion, Report Says.The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 Feb. 2019. However, so were the ideas that marched me through screaming crowds and up the stairs of William Frantz Elementary more than 50 years ago. This article was most recently revised and updated by, Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ruby-Bridges, National Women's History Museum - Biography of Ruby Bridges, Ruby Bridges - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Ruby Bridges - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Bridges wrote about her experiences integrating William Frantz in 1999's "Through My Eyes," which won the Carter G. Woodson Book Award. Henry was loving and supportive of Bridges, helping her not only with her studies but also with the difficult experience of being ostracized. History definitely should be taught the way it happenedgood, bad or ugly. Who's Who Among African Americans, 21st ed. An educator named Barbara Henry was called to take over the class. Everybody can be great because everybody can serve. Why was Ruby Bridges important to the civil rights movement? She had to be escorted by federal marshals as she walked past loud and unruly protesters and into the William Frantz Elementary School. U.S. marshals escort Ruby Bridges to school in 1960.
