Achievements (2024)

ACHIEVEMENTS

“I remember the first day being escorted by federal marshals and being rushed inside of a school that soon became empty because parents went in and removed their children from the school.”
- Ruby Bridges.

Leaving Johnson Lockett

When Ruby’s parents found out she had been selected to go to an all white school and leave her first school, Johnson Lockett Elementary, her mother was happy and thought it would be a great opportunity for a good education. Her father had a different view and thought it would bring too much trouble to the family. When he finally agreed, Ruby ended up going to Franz Elementary School which had been an all white school up until this time. On that dreary morning, four marshals escorted Ruby and her mother through the chaotic and protesting mob of angry parents. These mothers and fathers were furious because they didn’t want their children going to school with a black child. On the first day, Ruby met her first grade teacher, Ms. Henry, and instantaneously had a special bond with her that strengthened over that first year. Ruby was the only student in her class for months before students slowly began attending school again. By the time she was in second grade, many kids, both black and white, were learning and playing with each other.

Courtesy of http://www.colgate.edu.

Ruby was one of the youngest achievers in history.She was the first black child to attend Franz Elementary School in New Orleans. Her first grade year which was filled withdiscrimination, suffering, and hatred. Although the crowds tormented Ruby physically and emotionally during those first few months, with her courageous attitude, she reached one of the biggest achievements in Civil Rights history.

After that fateful day

Ruby says, “I was literally walking into my past, into the same school that I’d help integrate years earlier.”

After her most important school year that changed history, her family never talked about it and swept it under the rug. However, Ruby wanted to know what happened that year in first grade since it was a part of national history as well as her own.
After she graduated high school and college, she married and had four sons.Later, when her brother passed away, she took in his daughters as her own.When her nieces started going to school at Franz Elementary, Ruby got reconnected and reminded of her past at the school. She felt as if she was brought back to this historical place for a reason. Because of this,Ruby got a job three days a week at the school. Not long after working there, a phone call came through the school for Ruby saying a children’s book had been written about her. Ruby immediately felt that if this book kept her story alive she should too.

Ruby Bridges Foundation

"Racism is a grownup disease. Let's stop using kids to spread it!" This is the slogan of the foundation Ruby began afew years later in 1999. She called the organization Ruby Bridges Foundation, to promote values of tolerance and acceptance towards everybody. Ruby founded the organization because she decided to devote the rest of her life to speaking out about the issues surrounding racism and education that continues to plague this country. Ruby gives speeches through her foundation focusing on what she believes happened that day she went to school and the impact of it. Currently, the foundation offers consulting to other schools seeking to establish diveristy programs. She also gives lectures to school and community groups nationwide to help people understand that racism has no place in the hearts and minds of children, and has no place in school systems that are supposed to nuture them.

Awards given to ruby

Courtesy of http://www.justice.gov.