January 25, 2008

Skelly Wright and Ruby Bridges

My son's been learning some good lessons this week. At the moment, he and I are watching a movie that he brought home from school about one of his new heroes, Ruby Bridges.

I was pleased to Google her story and find the connection to one of my old heroes:

On November 14, 1960, a 6-year-old Bridges, escorted by four gun-toting US federal marshals, walked past a screaming mob of angry white people to do the unthinkable in New Orleans at the time: Go to school with white children...

Backed by an order from Federal District Court Judge J. Skelly Wright, she walked quietly up the steps of William Frantz public school, past youths who were chanting, "Two, four, six, eight! We don't want to integrate..."


My third-grader is incensed by the way the people in the movie are treating this first-grader. Thank you, Ruby. G d bless you, Joe.

2 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Rudy Bridges you are so cool!

Thomas Jackson said...

While doing research on Terri Dickerson, Director of Civil Rights who lists integrating private schools in Baltimore in 1962 on bio, we came across a Real Hero of Integration; Ruby Bridges. Ruby did what Ms. Dickerson purported to have done as a courageous act, two years before Dickerson's biographical act. That's not the reason for this comment; the reason is our children need to learn about Ruby Bridges, and what she did for our nation as a six year old.