In a Class of Only One: Ruby Bridges [View all]

[sheshe2]

A Child Walks to School. This is Beauty. This is Grace. This is Courage.

I posted those words about Ruby Bridges a year ago. Ruby Bridges turned 60 on September 9th. The courage of the child became courage of a woman.



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'UNDER GOD'
In a Class of Only One: Ruby Bridges
By Toby Mac and Michael Tait


CBN.com – It was the morning of November 16, 1960. Two big, black limousines pulled up in front of the William T. Frantz Elementary school in New Orleans, where a large, angry crowd had gathered. Four husky U.S. federal marshals got out. Then, while sheltering her from the crowd with their own bodies, they helped a tiny black girl in a starched white dress get out of the car. Putting her carefully on the sidewalk, they turned her around, and with two marshals in front of her and two behind her, the procession climbed the steps and entered the school.

It was Ruby Bridges' third day at her new school. On the first day her mother, Lucille, had gone with Ruby and the federal marshals. The night before, she had told Ruby, "There might be a lot of people outside the school, but you don't need to be afraid. I'll be with you." Ruby saw the barricades and heard the people shouting but thought it was the Mardi Gras carnival that takes place in New Orleans every year.

That whole first day, Ruby and her mother sat behind the glass window of the principal's office and waited. No one spoke to them — but all day they watched as white parents came in and dragged their children out of the school. Finally it was three o'clock and time to go home. The crowd outside was even bigger and louder than it had been that morning, but the marshals helped them get through it safely.

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Mrs. Henry escorted Ruby and her mother to a classroom on the second floor. There were lots of desks in the room but no other children. Ruby's mother took a seat in the back, Ruby took a seat up front, and Mrs. Henry started to teach Ruby the alphabet. Mrs. Henry was young and white, and Ruby was uneasy at first — she had never spent time with a white person before. She spent the whole day in the classroom with Mrs. Henry. She couldn't go to the cafeteria or outside for recess. Federal marshals sat outside the door, guarding and protecting them.

Read More:http://www.cbn.com/special/BlackHistory/UnderGod_RubyBridges.aspx

Ruby Bridges Foundation

A Message From Ruby
Dear Friend,

Though I did not know it then, nor would I come to realize it for many years, what transpired in the fall of 1960 in New Orleans would forever change my life and help shape a nation. When I think back on that time and all that has occurred since, I realize a lot has changed. I also know there is much more to be done. That fateful walk to school began a journey, and I have now developed a vision to continue moving forward.

November 14, 2010 marked the 50th anniversary of the day I desegregated William Frantz Elementary School. Most people know me as the six-year-old girl perpetually in a white dress and pigtails, as depicted in Norman Rockwell’s “The Problem We All Live With.” The “problem” Rockwell alludes to has been a part of our history since the first enslaved people were brought to the Americas over 400 years ago, and it is one that each of us must still confront today. For me, the painting also serves as an ever-present reminder of my purpose.

It was not until experiencing many of life’s lessons that I realized this calling. Ironically enough, it came to me decades later while at William Frantz. I had not given much thought to the events of my childhood until my youngest brother passed away in 1993, and I began looking after his daughters. They happened to be students at William Frantz, and I began volunteering there as a parent liaison. At that difficult time in my life, I felt I had been brought back in touch with my past for some greater cause.

Not long after, a reporter called the school. Psychiatrist Robert Coles had written a children’s book, The Story of Ruby Bridges, and people wanted to know what had happened to the little girl in the painting. No one expected to find me back at my old school.

Read More: http://rubybridgesfoundation.org/welcome/a-message-from-ruby/



You walk with Dignity and Grace then and now. Thank you Ruby Bridges.