preview

Essay On Ruby Bridges

Decent Essays

Born on September 8th 1960, six years later Ruby Bridges would be the first African-American child to attend an all white southern elementary school. After moving from her hometown Tylertown, Mississippi to New Orleans, Louisiana in hope of a better life she was one of the many black children chosen to take the test. This test would determine whether the schools would become integrated or not obviously being designed for them to fail, but six passed one being Ruby. In November of 1960 when the Louisiana State Legislature could no longer fight segregation in schools Ruby would be the only African-American child attending William Frantz Elementary School. Ruby paved the way for Civil Rights actions, this makes her a Civil Rights Activist Leader and an inspiration to many.
At the age of just six Ruby became a big part of the Civil Rights Movement. “On that first day, federal marshals drove Ruby and her mother to school. Two marshals walked in front of them and two behind as they climbed the stairs and entered William Frantz School. While segregations screamed outside, Ruby and her mother sat in the principals office. They stayed …show more content…

“Using royalties from a book about her experience she set up the Ruby Bridges Foundation” (Patterson 209). Using the money she made from her childrens book Mrs. Henry and Ruby created the foundation to help end racism. She also took the William Frantz building and turned it into an integrated school to bring children of different races together. She wanted the children to do what other generations could not do, “embrace our racial and cultural differences” (Ruby Bridges). The motto of her foundation is “ racism is a grown-ups disease and we must stop using our children to spread it”. Ruby is considered a leader for these actions because she opened a school and created a foundation to help bring people of different races together and end that hate between each

Get Access