In late 1960, a six year old girl stepped into the school where she attended her first grade all alone, this courageous black child paved the way for the integration of schools at the troubled times of New Orleans. Ruby Nell Bridges, now a civil rights activist, was the one among six young Afro American children to be enrolled, to integrate a White school in the American South.
Born on September 8, 1954 in Trylertown, Mississippi, Ruby was the eldest among eight siblings. Their family was poor and had a farm. For a better life, they moved to New Orleans. Her father got the job as a service station attendant and her mother took night jobs to support the growing family. As the eldest sister, she took care of the children and went to “far away school,” segregated for black children. Their lives changed with the new law passed in New Orleans, which dictated that Blacks could attend the integrated school and that segregation was abolished.
Ruby took the test amid the Black students in order to be selected for the integrated school. Her father opposed it initially since he was afraid of inviting unnecessary trouble but her mother favored the decision for her daughter’s better future. Despite the difficult test, Ruby Bridges passed it and on November 16, 1960, escorted by four marshals and her mother she entered the city’s William Frantz Elementary School.
On her first day she sat in the principal’s office as havoc was created by the White parents outside the school protesting against the integration of Blacks with Whites. On the second day, she was in her new class all alone with a white teacher Mrs. Henry, who taught her for one year. À valuable bond was established between the two individuals.
“I couldn’t have gotten through that year without Mrs. Henry. Sitting next to her in our classroom, just the two of us, I was able to forget the world outside. She made school fun. We did everything together. I couldn’t go out in the schoolyard for recess, so right in that room we played games” ~ Ruby Bridges