RUBY BRIDGES BREAKS COLOR BARRIER AT NEW ORLEANS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
New Orleans, Louisiana (JFK+50) On November 14, 1960, Ruby Bridges*, the first African-American student to attend William Frantz Elementary School here in New Orleans, was escorted to her first grade class by four federal marshals.
As it turned out, Ruby was the only student in her class the entire year. All the white students who had been assigned to the class withdrew. Ruby's teacher, Barbara Henry, was from Boston. It is said that Ms. Henry taught Ruby as if she were in a full classroom of students.
The next school year, Ruby advanced to the second grade while eight new African-American students were admitted to first grade.
*Ruby Nell Bridges Hall was born in Tylertown, Mississippi in 1954. Her family moved to New Orleans in 1960. As an adult, RNBH worked as a travel agent for 15 years & is a civil rights activist. She is the subject of Norman Rockwell's 1964 painting "The Problem We All Live With."
SOURCE
"White Mobs Violently Riot Against Six-Year-Old Ruby Bridges Integrating Elementary School," November 14, 1960, A History of Racial Injustice, www.calendar.eji.org/
