Ruby Bridges was just six years old when she stepped inside an all-white school in the Jim Crow South — and changed history

Ruby Bridges was just six years old when she stepped inside an all-white school in the Jim Crow South — and changed history. Despite being harassed by an angry mob every day, the first grader was able to successfully complete the school year

 — thanks to the one white teacher who was willing to educate her and the four federal marshals who ensured she made it in and out of the school safely. And 60 years later, Bridges is still fighting for racial equality in America as an educator and activist.⁠

On November 14, 1960, Ruby Bridges integrated an all-white elementary school in New Orleans — and became a civil rights icon.

Ruby Bridges was just six years old when she made history in 1960. As the first Black student to attend the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, Bridges stepped right into the forefront of the civil rights movement. But sadly, the school was far from welcoming.

On her first day of the first grade, Bridges was greeted by a racist mob who threatened to kill her. Since she was just a child, Bridges could barely understand what was going on and at first didn’t even realize that the crowd was angry at her. But before long, the harassment began to frighten her — especially since it lasted throughout the whole school year.

“They would bring this tiny baby’s coffin and they put a Black doll inside of it,” Ruby Bridges, who is still alive today, recalled of the experience. “They would march around the school with this coffin and I would have to pass them to get inside of the building. It stuck with me for a very, very long time.”

This is the story of Ruby Bridges, the courageous little Black girl who desegregated a white elementary school in the South.

On November 14, 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges made history as she walked toward William Frantz Elementary School. But her first day was unusual in several ways — and she had trouble figuring out why.

First off, Bridges was escorted to the school by four federal marshals — something that certainly never happened back when she was in kindergarten. Secondly, Bridges was met by a screaming mob of angry white protesters standing just outside her classroom.

Unbeknownst to Bridges, a local citizen’s council had encouraged people to “do something” before “burr-heads are forced into your schools.” As a result, an angry mob of white picketers crowded the entrance of the school, holding signs with racist messages and segregationist slogans. The mob screamed death threats at Bridges as she passed by.

Bridges was barely old enough to understand what was happening.

“I saw barricades and police officers and just people everywhere,” Bridges, now 66, recalled. “And when I saw all of that, I immediately thought that it was Mardi Gras. I had no idea that they were here to keep me out of the school.”

After Bridges finally made her way into the school, she was escorted to the principal’s office, where she stayed for most of the day. Meanwhile, furious white parents began to pull their students out of school one by one. By the end of the week, just three white families remained at William Frantz Elementary. And none of the children shared a classroom with Bridges.

On Ruby Bridges’ second day of class, she found herself largely alone in the school. “By the time I got back the second day and was escorted to my classroom,” Bridges recalled, “the building was totally empty. And I remember thinking, you know, my mom has brought me to school too early.”

The students and parents weren’t the only ones who had left the school in protest. All the teachers — except for one, Barbara Henry — refused to teach Bridges. And so throughout the year, Bridges was Henry’s only pupil. “Being in an empty classroom just my teacher and myself,” Bridges said, “I constantly was trying to figure out why was I the only child in the whole school.”

It wasn’t only Ruby Bridges who suffered for her act of bravery. After she began attending the white school, her father lost his job and a local grocery store refused to sell food to her family.

But Bridges made it through the tumultuous year and then began the second grade with relative normalcy. By that point, there were other kids in her class — mostly white students but a few others who were Black. And the angry crowds outside were finally gone. Desegregation continued as the civil rights movement took off in the 1960s.

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