Kimberlyann-Vazquez

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Apr 3, 2024

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Kimberlyann Vazquez HIS 200: Applied History Southern New Hampshire University February 26, 2023 Final Submission: Ruby Bridges In November of 1960, Ruby Bridges, (who was 6 years old at the time), became one of the first African Americans to go to an all-white school and was escorted to and from school due to multiple threats of violence. According to the article Ruby Bridges (1954 -) by Meg Anderson, “ She was not allowed to go to recess or eat lunch in the cafeteria because it was deemed too dangerous. Her family also suffered from the decision to integrate; they were asked to avoid shopping in neighborhood stores and her father, Abon, was fired from his job.” Through her determination and that of her family with the support of the government officers, Bridges became famous to where she is studied by students even to this day 63 years later as she has recently been compared to Kamala Khan as a result of her impact on the Civil Rights Movement which is described by the following quote from the article in Shapiro Library called RUBY BRIDGES A Civil Rights Icon Looks Back , “The image going viral was an iteration of the famous Norman Rockwell painting of 6-year-old Bridges as she integrated William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans in 1960; the 2020 version photoshopped Bridges’ shadow from the painting leading a fellow groundbreaker walking tall: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. "It made me feel a sense of pride to be a part of that journey," says Bridges, "but I also felt a responsibility to all of those before me, because I'm standing on the shoulders and in the shadows of people who made huge sacrifices for all of us."’

While everyone has witnessed the effects of the Civil Rights Movement, not everyone has paid enough attention to the people involved in these changes and the suffering they endured to bring us peace. One of these people is Ruby Bridges and although many know the gist of her story and what she did, few have studied/ focused on how her integration of William Franz impacted her life and that of her family. As explained by Ruby’s mother, Lucille Bridges, in the video by ( Spring Branch ISD, 2016), they encountered numerous challenges along the way including death threats and aggression as well as losing their jobs due to their decision to assist with the integration of schools. Their struggle is also depicted as Ruby herself recounts the situation and compares what she thought back then to now where she is grown up with a better understanding of the importance of the situation in the video on the website cited below by ( Bertelsen, P. ,2013) Although Ruby Bridges didn’t participate in desegregation of schools until 1960, it was one piece of a movement that had been gaining support for years, the Civil Rights Movement, (Smith, 2020). The Civil Rights Movement touched all aspects of life as there was segregation occurring in every part of life with segregated educational facilities being one piece that began to gain political and societal attention after the court case of Brown v. Board of Education (1954). This case made it so that the court recognized the fact that “separate but equal”, in regards to segregated facilities, was in fact not true and began to have facilities of all kinds begin desegregation to fix this issue. During my research, I utilized both the political and societal historical lenses in order to better understand the depth of the issue due to the fact that we were not present during the movement but still need to study this momentous occasion. After the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) case was decided, new laws were put into place to make schools begin desegregation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, (Library of

Congress, 2014) . Although there were laws created, many schools and facilities in general did not adhere to these laws and fought to keep the separation. In 1957, the NAACP decided to utilize a group of nine African American students to integrate Little Rock High School in Little Rock, Arkansas and later these students became known as the Little Rock Nine. Following this event, more and more African American families gained the courage they needed to send their children to all-white schools, which is where Ruby Bridges comes in. Since Ruby was only six years old at the time, she recalls the event and recognizes the fact that she was slightly oblivious to the political and social impact she was making as is seen in the article cited below, (Kelly, M. L., Burnett, E., Yu, M., & Dorning, C. ,2022). As a result of the schools being desegregated, there was a short-term consequence of absenteeism/dropouts which eventually resolved itself. At the time of desegregation, there were many violent riots and protests but in the long term it led to the creation of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. This Act officially “prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin”. As a result of this law, discrimination of all kinds was now illegal which didn’t immediately end the issue but has drastically improved the attitude and treatment towards African Americans to where all races are able to coexist in a much less aggressive environment. These conclusions can be supported by the following quote, “Our central finding is that school desegregation fundamentally changed the people who lived through it, yet had a more limited impact on the larger society. Public schools faced enormous challenges during the late 1970s as educators tried to facilitate racial integration amid a society that remained segregated in terms of housing, social institutions, and often employment. Nonetheless, desegregation made the vast majority of the students who attended these schools less racially prejudiced and more comfortable around people of different backgrounds. After high school, however, their lives have

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