H. Res. 1713 

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

November 15, 2010. 

Whereas, on May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme 

Court announced in Brown v. Board of Education (347 

U.S. 483) that, ‘‘in the field of education, the doctrine 

of ‘separate but equal’ has no place’’; 

Whereas the Brown decision recognized as a matter of law 

that the segregation of public schools deprived students 

of the equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth 

Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; 

Whereas in 1960, six years after the landmark Brown v. 

Board of Education decision, the promise of access and 

equality within the realm of education remained unfilled 

in New Orleans, Louisiana, and throughout much of the 

Nation; 

Whereas in 1960, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) contacted Ruby 

Bridges’ family to solicit her participation in the integration of New Orleans public schools; 

Whereas six years after the Brown decision, on November 14, 

1960, Ruby Bridges, at the age of six, was the first African-American child to integrate the previously all-White 

William Frantz Elementary School; 
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•HRES 1713 EH 

Whereas Ruby Bridges courageously took the first step into 

a desegregated future made possible by the Supreme 

Court’s historic ruling in the Brown decision; 

Whereas Ruby Bridges was the only student in her class for 

an entire year, taught by the only remaining teacher, 

Mrs. Barbara Henry, after the other teachers and students withdrew from the school in a gesture of disapproval of desegregation; 

Whereas Ruby Bridges was a pioneer in the movement for an 

integrated public education system that afforded equal 

educational opportunities to all, regardless of race; 

Whereas in the face of verbal abuse and unveiled bigotry, 

Ruby Bridges exhibited the courage and equanimity of a 

person many times her age; 

Whereas Norman Rockwell’s The Problem We All Live With 

offers a depiction of Ruby Bridges’ uncanny resolve and 

singularity of purpose in the face of adversity as she attended her first day of school; 

Whereas Ruby Bridges’ story is symbolic of the victorious 

dismantling of school segregation, as well as the full and 

equal participation in United States society to which all 

citizens are entitled; 

Whereas the significance of Ruby Bridges’ actions have been 

acknowledged with numerous awards and recognitions, 

including the Presidential Citizens Medal awarded by 

President William Jefferson Clinton in 2001; and 

Whereas Ruby Bridges was among the first in a line of civil 

rights pioneers that paved the way for the eventual desegregation of all public schools in the United States: 

Now, therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
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•HRES 1713 EH 

(1) recognizes the 50th anniversary of Ruby 

Bridges desegregating a previously all-White public elementary school; 

(2) encourages people in the United States to recognize the historical importance of the desegregation of elementary schools and Ruby Bridges, who not only secured integration for William Frantz Elementary School, 

but hundreds of thousands of schools across the Nation; 

and 

(3) commits itself, in the wake of recent challenges, 

to continuing the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education 

by protecting and advancing equal educational opportunity for all. 

Attest: 

Clerk.