She Who Dared: Brave Women and Children Through History | Ruby Bridges: Courage Amid Hatred

In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court passed a landmark ruling in “Brown v. the Board of Education” of Topeka, Kansas, ending racial segregation in public schools. Ruby Bridges was born the same year but still attended a segregated New Orleans kindergarten in 1959. A year later, a federal court ordered Louisiana to desegregate. To stall, the school district created entrance exams for Black students to see if they could compete academically with the white students. Ruby and five other students passed the exam.

The William Frantz Elementary School was a few blocks from the Bridges’ home. Her father feared for her safety, while her mother wanted Ruby to have educational opportunities that were so often denied. Ruby did not start at William Frantz until November 14 as the school stalled in the fall. Two students decided not to leave their school, and the three others went to the all-white McDonough Elementary School.

Four federal marshals escorted Ruby and her mother to school every day that year. One of the federal marshals, Charles Burks, later reflected it was a highlight of his life. Burks admired her courage, noting how she “just marched along like a little soldier” despite the hostility she faced. Most angry white parents pulled their children from school. Barbara Henry, a white Boston native, was the only teacher willing to accept Ruby and all year, she was a class of one. Ruby ate lunch alone and sometimes played with her teacher at recess, but she never missed a school day that year.

A few families supported her bravery. Some northerners sent money to aid her family. Many of the white townspeople protested New Orleans. The family’s courage came at a steep price. Abon lost his job. Grocery stores boycotted Lucille. The landowner evicted Ruby’s sharecropping grandparents after twenty-five years of service.

Artist Norman Rockwell celebrated the family’s courage in his 1964 painting, “The Problem We All Live With.”