Ruby Bridges : a brave girl who changed history

One person can change history
Ruby Bridges : a brave little girl

It was 1960, there were U.S. marshals walking beside her, and she was the first black child to enter an all-white school ever in a Southern State of United States of America . The school was William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans , Louisiana and the little girl was Ruby Bridges .


In the year 1960  a federal court ordered the desegregation of schools in the South . The Black kids were supposed to take a test , only six kids passed the test and were allowed to study at a all - white school . Five of the six kids were not sent to school . Ruby Bridges was the only one who started attending the newly desegregated elementary school . Her father was some what scared for her , he did not want her to go to a all white school but her mother insisted that her daughter pave the way for herself and other black children in the newly-integrated school system.

President Eisenhower appointed U.S. marshals who would escort Bridges and her mother into the school building every day and walked with her back home .

The first year, all the parents of Frantz Elementary School pulled their children out of school to protest the integration. Due to that  Ruby Bridges spent her first year in the class as an only student .
There was only one teacher among the all white teachers who was willing to teach a black child. She and Bridges showed up for school every single day for one year .
It was a lot for a six year old girl , who had to face an angry mob , name calling and other acts of hatred every morning while walking to school .

Her father lost his job as a result of the controversy, and her grandparents lost their farming land .

Things began to settle down towards the end of the first year with  few white children in Ruby's grade returning to class.

By Ruby's second year at Frantz School it seemed everything had return to normal . There were also no more federal marshals escorting her she walked to school every day by herself. Many students joined her in her second grade class, and the school began to see full enrollment again. No one talked about the past year.
Ruby Bridges graduated from high school in New Orleans . She did what needed to be done , she did it with tremendous self confidence and bravery . At the age of six years she was a hero . A hero for thousands of many more black kids who went to many desegregated schools after her .
She met President Obama at the Oval Office . Her portrait commentating her act of courage painted by Norman Rockwell hangs outside the Oval Office.
“I think it is fair to say that if it hadn’t been for you guys, I might not be here and we might not be looking at this together,” Obama told Bridges.