Ruby Bridges

Ruby Bridges played an important part in the Civil Rights Movement. Ruby was born Sept. 8, 1954, in Tylertown, Miss. A year later, her family moved to New Orleans, La. At that time, people wanted to keep blacks and whites separate because whites didn't think that blacks were as good as them. For example, blacks and whites had separate drinking fountains, blacks had to sit in the back of buses, and blacks and whites each had their own separate schools. Ruby was a little girl who was one of the first blacks to go to an all-white school. Her dad didn't want her to go to the all-white William Frantz School. He feared that angry people who wanted to keep blacks and whites separate would hurt his family if Ruby went to the all-white school. Some white people threatened to poison Ruby and hurt her if she went to their school. Her dad even lost his job because his boss didn't think that someone should be working for him if his black child was going to an all-white school. When Ruby started first grade, U.S. marshals took her to and from school and protected her from the angry white people. On the first day of school in 1960, Ruby saw some people dragging their white kids out of the classrooms because they didn't want their kids going to the same school as a black kid. Many of the white parents and their kids were outside the school protesting.They were yelling and holding signs. The teachers still tried to teach the few students at school that day. No white parents would allow their children to be in the same classroom with Ruby. Her teacher, Mrs. Henry, started to teach and was very loving toward Ruby. She supported and helped Ruby through the difficult time. For the rest of the year, she was the only one in her class and she was taught on a whole different floor from all the other kids. AP Photo.