Ruby Bridges

Ruby Nell Bridges Hall (born September 8, 1954) is an American activist. She is known for being the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in the South. She went to William Frantz Elementary School, in Louisiana, USA.

 Early life 

Ruby Bridges was born in Tylertown, Mississippi to Abon and Lucille Bridges.Madeline Donaldson, Ruby Bridges (Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications, 2009), p. 7 When she was 4 years old, the family moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1960, when she was 6 years old, her parents allowed her to participate in the integration of the New Orleans School system.

 Integration 

In a 1954 decision, Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court made racial segregation illegal. Ruby was chosen to attend the all-white William Frantz Elementary School.Leslie Kaplan; William Owings, Educational Foundations (Australia: Wadsworth, 2014), p. 153 The school board said black children could attend the first grade if they passed a test.Madeline Donaldson, Ruby Bridges (Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications, 2009), p. 14 Bridges passed a test. On her first day of school four U.S. Marshals had to go with her to school. She went straight to the principal's office.She sat in the principal's office all day.  Angry crowds of parents shouted threats at her. For the next six months the marshals took her to and from her school. Ruby had to spend the entire first school year alone with one teacher, Barbara Henry. People tried to hurt her family. Her father lost his job and her grandparents were thrown off their farm in Georgia. Ruby never missed a day of school that year. The story of her going to a white school is the subject of a Norman Rockwell painting called The Problem We All Live With.

 Adult life 
She finished elementary school and graduated from high school. Bridges went on to become a travel agent for American Express. Mrs. Ruby Bridges got married to Malcolm Hall and had four sons. In 1993, her brother was shot and killed in New Orleans. Ruby's family went to New Orleans to take care of his daughters.

In 1999, she wrote a children's book, "Through My Eyes", telling her story and what she went through. The same year she started the Ruby Bridges Foundation. She travels and talks to children all over the country.

On 8 January 2001, President Bill Clinton awarded Ruby Bridges the Presidential Citizens Medal. She was one of 28 to receive the medal that day.

 References 

 Other websites 

 The Ruby Bridges Foundation 
 Ruby Bridges, Webpage

Category:African-American people
Category:American civil rights activists
Category:Children's writers
Category:1954 births
Category:Presidential Citizens Medal recipients
Category:Living people