In 2018, it does not matter the race that a person is because they are welcome anywhere. Many years ago, in the 1800 and 1900’s, the color of your skin dictated how someone was going to be treated and what places they would be allowed to go. The Jim Crow laws demoralized all African American children and adults between 1877 and 1954 solely because of the color of their skin . The Jim Crow laws purposely stripped African Americans of their rights so the white people would be superior over African Americans. The Jim Crow Laws were in effect from 1877-1954 (Urofsky). By definition, Jim Crow laws are, “any of the laws that enforced racial segregation in the South between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and the beginning of the civil rights movement …show more content…
This was not the only law passed to prevent the two races from being in the same …show more content…
At the age of 6, Ruby Bridges made an advance in the civil rights movement when she attended William Frantz Elementary School. Ruby was the first African American child to attend the all white school in the south (Michals). For first grade, Ruby attended a segregated class. In 1960 a federal court ordered Louisiana to desegregate. After the court ordered, the district required African American students to take entrance exams to see if they would be up to par with the white students. Ruby Bridges and 5 other classmates passed their exam (Michals). Of 5 other students that passed their acceptance exams, 2 of them decided not to leave their current school and 3 of them were sent to an all white elementary school, leaving Ruby to face her new school all alone (Michals). The walk into school every morning was dreaded, “Ruby and her mother were escorted by four federal marshals to the school every day that year” (Michals). Instead of singing songs and playing with friends, She spent her first day in the principal’s office due to the chaos created as angry white parents pulled their children from school (MIchals). Angry parents withdrew their children from school because they did not want their kids learning in the same place as Ruby. Bridges’ teacher, Barbara Henry, was new to the area when she started teaching.