Hero #027: Ruby Bridges … (05/07/16)
As a six-year-old, Ruby Bridges famously became the first African American child to desegregate an all-white elementary school in the South. When the 1st grader walked to William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans on November 14, 1960 — surrounded by a team of U.S. Marshals, she was met by a vicious mob shouting and throwing objects at her. One of the federal marshals, Charles Burks, who served on her escort team, recalls Bridges’ courage in the face of such hatred: “For a little girl six years old going into a strange school with four strange deputy marshals, a place she had never been before, she showed a lot of courage. She never cried. She didn’t whimper. She just marched along like a little soldier. We were all very proud of her.”
Once Ruby entered the school, she discovered that it was devoid of children because they had all been removed by their parents due to her presence. The only teacher willing to have Ruby as a student was Barbara Henry, who had recently moved from Boston. Ruby was taught by herself for her first year at the school due to the white parents’ refusal to have their children share a classroom with a black child. Despite daily harassment (which required the federal marshals to continue escorting her to school for months), threats towards her family, and her father’s job loss due to his family’s role in school integration, Ruby persisted in attending school. The following year, when she returned for second grade, the mobs were gone and more African American students joined her at the school. The school integration effort was in no small part a success due to Ruby Bridges’ inspiring courage, devout perseverance, and amazing resilience.
“Each and every one of us is born with a clean heart. Our babies know nothing about hate or racism. But soon they begin to learn – and only from us. We keep racism alive. We pass it on to our children … Racism is a grown-up disease, and we should stop using our children to spread it.” ~ Ruby Bridges
“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when you know what you are doing is Right.” ~ Ruby Bridges
Dr. Robert Coles: Honey I saw you talking to them. Did you finally get angry with them? Did you tell them to leave you alone?
Ruby Bridges: No, I didn’t tell them anything. I didn’t talk to them at all.
Dr. Robert Coles: I was there, and I saw your lips move.
Ruby Bridges: Yes, but I wasn’t talking to them. I was praying for them.
Dr. Robert Coles: Praying for them?
Ruby Bridges: Yes, I pray for them every day in the car.
Dr. Robert Coles: Oh. What prayer did you say for them?
Ruby Bridges: Please God, forgive these people, because even if they say those mean things to me, they don’t know what they’re doing.
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