Bridges To A World Without Hatred

by Neda Jafar

That first day of school, November 14, 1960, four federal marshals escorted Ruby Bridges and her mother to William-Franz elementary. This school was located in the most racist part of town, and yet the school board felt that if desegregation was to fail, it would fail here. That morning, Ruby's mother was informed that two other black girls who were assigned to attend William Franz with Ruby had dropped out, and that for the next ten months of school, Ruby would be the only black student in her class.

As soon as the car pulled up to the school, Ruby saw an enormous crowd. Unsure why all of those people were there, Ruby assumed that it was Mardi Gras. As she walked up the stone steps towards the school entrance, she was unaware of the cruel threats the crowd was shouting, instead focusing on the gigantic school. "This enormous building must be college," she thought. "I've graduated out of kindergarten, and now I am in college." If only Ruby had known the true meaning and importance of those first steps into that school....

It has been almost forty years since that very brave six year old became one of the first African Americans to enter an all white school. New Orleans, Louisana was one of the last states to desegregate. The school board had awaited the moment with fear, holding it off as long as they could despite President John F. Kennedy's insistence that the schools of New Orleans desegregate. The Louisiana Governor, in protest ranted, "I will shut down all of my schools before I allow them to be integrated." On the day of her arrival, oblivious to all of the acrimony, Ruby was led into the principal's office where she sat watching white mothers come in and take their children out of school. And, for the rest of the school year, Ruby did not see any other children in the entire school. With the help of her teacher, Mrs. Henry, however, Ruby completed the year with high marks.

It was not easy to be an African American living in Louisiana during this time. Not many black families wanted their children to attend schools with white children, as many children had been killed for trying to integrate, even with the federal law mandating integration. Also, the Boards of Education in Louisiana had tried to maintain that segregation was necessary because white children were smarter. They made the 100 black students, who had signed up to go to school, take a test that was extremely hard to prove their point. Even so, six out of the one hundred students passed. All of them were girls, and young Ruby Bridges was one of them.