There are many influential individuals who have in some form, represented the American
Dream, but what about the ones who have proved it wrong? On the morning of November 14, 1963, an innocent six year old girl named Ruby Bridges made history. She would be the first African American child to integrate an all white school. Ruby was born on September 8, 1954 and grew up on a farm with her parents and grandparents in Mississippi. When she was only four years old, her parents Abon and Lucille Bridges, moved to New Orleans for a better life. Ruby attended an all black school miles away even though she lived only blocks away from an all white school. While in kindergarten, she was one of the many black students to take an entrance exam that would
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Ruby would be the only African American student to attend the city’s William Frantz school and the only black student to have ever attended a white school in the south. On the morning of November 14th federal marshals drove Ruby and her mother to her new school. When they arrived, large crowds of people were gathered, yelling and throwing objects. In a recent interview with CBN, Ruby says,”I remember them chanting, ‘2, 4, 6, 8 we don’t want to integrate”( Ruby Bridges Shares the Key to Overcoming Racism). Among all the commotion she was taken to the principal’s office where she spent the duration of the day. Nearly all white parents had kept their children home, and as a result the school day was cancelled. On her second day, she was greeted by a woman displaying a black doll in a wooden coffin. This was her first instance of genuinely being afraid, but she still held her head up high. Only one teacher agreed to teach Ruby, her name Barbara Henry. For a year, Ruby and Mrs. Henry sat side by side and worked on her lessons. As time went on, more and more parents started allowing their students to go back to the school. Some even being in the same class as Ruby. Although it was nowhere near practicable yet, circumstances were beginning to