1954-present
Birthplace: Tylertown, Mississippi
First African American student to desegregate an all-white school at 6 years old
Civil Rights Activist
Author
Recipient United States Presidential Citizens Medal 2001
Ruby’s birth year coincided with the US Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka Kansas, which ended racial segregation in public schools.
Southern states continued to resist integration and in 1959 Ruby attended a segregated New Orleans kindergarten. A year later, a federal court ordered Louisiana to desegregate. The school district created entrance exams for African American students to see whether they could compete academically at the all-white school. Ruby, along with five other students passed the exam.
Her parents were worried about sending Ruby to the all-white William Frantz Elementary School, which was a few blocks from their home. Her father was concerned for her safety. Her mother wanted her daughter to have the educational opportunities they had been denied. Of the five other students that passed the exam 2 decided to stay in the school they were in. Three others went to another all-white school.
On her first day of school, Ruby and her mother were escorted by four federal marshals to the school and every day that year in 1960. Ruby didn’t understand what was going on as she walked into the school. She thought with all the yelling and excitement of the crowd it must be like Mardi Gras. Ruby's teacher, Mrs Henry, was brought in from Boston to teach her. Some families supported Ruby and her family. Northerners sent money in support. Segregationists withdrew their children permanently. Others protested. She was in a class of one, eating lunch every day alone or with her teacher. Over time other Black students enrolled.
The Bridges family suffered for their bravery. Ruby's father lost his job and her mother was refused service at grocery stores. Even her crop-sharing grandparents were evicted from the farm they had lived on for a quarter-century.
Ruby was the subject of Norman Rockwell's painting The Problem We All Live With 1964 which hung on display in the West Wing outside the Oval Office of the White House in 2011 during President Barack Obamas' presidency.
After graduating from a desegregated high school, Ruby became a travel agent, married, and had four sons. She also went on to write about her experiences as a child in two books.
A lifelong racial equality activist, Ruby established The Ruby Bridges Foundation to promote tolerance and change through education in 1999,
I chose to needle felt Ruby in her white dress and school supplies in hand as this is the iconic image of her facing down white hatred. The most difficult part of this reincarnation was trying to get Ruby to appear to be walking, like the portrait. I found a miniature book and clip board, a small piece of shim cut out worked well to paint and mark as a ruler. I felted her lunch bag.
Ruby at age 6 walking into school.
“Don't follow the path. Go where there is no path and begin the trail. When you start a new trail equipped with courage, strength and conviction, the only thing that can stop you is you!” – Ruby Bridges
#Blackhistorymonth #Blackhistorymonth2023 #Rubybridges #history #thewomen #needlefelting #needlefeltingartist
Sources:
Encyclopedia Britannica
PBS
NPR
Comments