April 7, 2025 • 31 mins
🎙️
Ruby Bridges was just six years old when she made waves in 1960 by becoming the first African American child to desegregate an all-white elementary school in New Orleans. Can you imagine? Every morning, she strolled into school with federal marshals by her side, while angry crowds shouted at her. It's a wild scene that sounds like something out of a movie, but it was her reality! Her courage not only changed her life but also echoed through the civil rights movement, reminding us that even the littlest among us can stand tall against injustice. Join us as we dive into Ruby's powerful story and explore the impact her bravery had on education and equality in America.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:42):
She's 6 years old and eventhough people are chanting things,
she doesn't quite understandthe words and it rhymes and she's
from New Orleans so she thinksit's a Mardi Gras parade.
So they actually have a littlebit of video of her walking in and
she's just trotting right along.
It makes you feel like if thissix year old girl could be so brave,
I can be brave. PresidentObama said to her, because you did
(01:03):
that, I am standing here today.
Welcome. Welcome to Talk withHistory. I'm your host Scott, here
with my wife and historian Jen.
Hello.
On this podcast we give youinsights to our history Inspired
World Travels YouTube channelJourney and examine history through
(01:24):
deeper conversations with thecurious, the explorers and the history
lovers out there. Now, Jen,before we get into our main topic,
I want to shout out Pamelabecause Pamela, she left us a tip
over at her website,talkwithistory.com if you go to talkwithhistory.com
you can scroll to the bottomand you're actually able to there's
a link that says support andyou can drop us a tip. It's two bucks,
(01:46):
five bucks, whatever it is,but you can also leave us a comment
on there and it will post onthe website. You can post your comments
on there with a tip or you canleave it anonymously. You don't have
to. She said. Love your show.Currently listening to the Colonial
Williamsburg episode. Lived inRichmond in the 1990s. Many happy
memories in Williamsburg. Fivestars. So thank you so much Pamela.
That's actually one of ourmore popular podcast episodes because
(02:08):
I think it's very searchable.So if you want to tip the podcast
because you brought some valueto your history adventures, you can
head over totalkwithhistory.com support. Buy
us a coffee, buy us a sandwichor whatever it is. Thank you so much
for the support, for the feedback.
Yeah, we really appreciate it.Thank you pamela.
Thanks. In 1960, a brave sixyear old girl named Ruby Bridges
(02:39):
made history by becoming thefirst African American child to desegregate
an all white elementary schoolin New Orleans. Every morning, federal
marshals would escort youngRuby through the angry crowds just
so she could get an education.Something we take for granted today.
Can you imagine being sixyears old walking into school surrounded
(03:00):
by protesters, yet showing upday after day? Ruby did exactly that
at William France ElementarySchool, spending her entire first
grade year as the only studentin her class taught by a dedicated
teacher named Barbara Henry.While parents pulled their white
children from the school inprotest, Ruby's story became A powerful
symbol of the civil Rightsmovement, inspiring Norman Rockwell's
(03:25):
famous painting, the ProblemWe All Live with, and showing the
world that even a small childcould stand tall in the face of racial
injustice. All right, Jen. Sowe were down in New Orleans, down
in New Orleans, and we did abunch of stuff down there. We did
(03:46):
the history of New Orleans. Ifyou guys have been listening to the
podcast regularly, if you'renew to the podcast, go back. If you
like the New Orleans area, didthe history of New Orleans. We did
the World War II. We made avideo that's published. That podcast
is coming up soon on the WorldWar II Museum down there. We did
a couple things. One of thethings that I wasn't expecting to
do while we were down there,but we went and did it because you
(04:06):
said so, was we went toWilliam France Elementary School.
It's kind of out. I'll call itin the suburbs. I don't know. I don't
remember how far away it wasfrom. Was it really suburbs of New
Orleans or is it more likereally, like a solid 20, 30 minutes?
No, it's a suburb. I would sayit's called the Ninth Ward. So it's
a suburb of New Orleans.You're still a little bit along the
(04:27):
river there. If you knowanything about New Orleans. It kind
of has the river runs throughthe Mississippi, runs through New
Orleans, and it's kind of onthe outskirts of that, to the east.
And I had wanted to do thisbecause when you looked up historic
events of New Orleans, itpopped up. And we all are familiar
with the photographs, I think,of Ruby Bridges desegregating the
(04:50):
school, the little girlsurrounded by the federal marshals.
But I never really knew wherethat was. Like, I under. You know,
we all kind of know like. Likethe Little Rock Nine, and that that
happened in Little Rock,Arkansas. But Ruby Bridges, you know
the photograph, but you're notas sure where geographically that's
taking place. And when we werein New Orleans and I realized it
(05:12):
happened in New Orleans, I'mlike, we have to tell this story
well.
And it was interesting, too,because this is a little bit more
recent history. This is kindof. We've gone even more recent than
this. But this was 19. And soRuby Bridges is still around and
kicking today.
Oh, yeah, she's still.
I mean, she went. We'll talkabout a little bit later. But she
went to the White House tomeet President Obama.
(05:34):
Yes, yes. And yeah, so she'sstill alive today. So I've had people
comment on this video askingif any of those parents who are protesting
are still alive. And I'm like,I'm not sure about the parents, but
their children definitely areprobably still alive. And so it is
recent history. And peoplehave that conversation like, how
(05:55):
would you feel seeing yourgrandma on either side of that riot?
And it's just one of thosethings we can all learn from. And
history is still so present inour lives, whether or not how far
removed the time is, how welearn our history, if we can relate
to our history, if we can seepeople that we know in these historic
(06:15):
events or research them. Thisis one of those cases where you might
have some connection to this,and if you do, please let us know.
But it all stems from thisBrown. Brown versus the Board of
Education case. And what'sinteresting about this case is we're
kind of connected to this casebecause it's argued on December 9th,
(06:37):
1952. And December 9th is mybirthday. But it's decided May 17th.
Oh, wow.
1954, which is Scott'sbirthday. So 54 is when it's decided
that separate but equal is notseparate but equal. That this was
a Kansas City case of thisfamily who. They were African American
(07:00):
and their child lived closerto the white school and couldn't
go there and had to be busedfarther away to the segregated school.
And they were like, this makesno sense for our small child to have
to. Has double the time to goto another school. And the. And if
it's separate but equal, it'snot equal. The education wasn't equal.
And so they brought it all theway to the Supreme Court. It was
(07:22):
a unanimous decision, and Ireally feel like it overturned the
Plessy vs Ferguson decisionthat happened in 1896. And what's
interesting is that actuallyhappened in New Orleans. And that
case is where comes theseparate but equal comes from. When
Plessy was a free man ofcolor, tried to buy a. A train ticket
(07:44):
in a white car on a NewOrleans train car. And. And he. And
it wasn't upheld. He wasn'tallowed to do that. And that. That
the Supreme Court decidedseparate but equal. And so that's
one of those tarnishing markson the Supreme Court. And So I. This
1954 case kind of overturnedthat completely. Now it's decided
(08:06):
in 1954. Everybody equals notconstitutional. So what do all these
schools do? They hold off,right? They don't desegregate right
away. They try to dig in. Theytry to find different rules. They
try to find different thingsthat they can do to Kind of circumvent
this. And that's what'shappening in New Orleans. That's
(08:28):
why it takes six years.
And I always, like, I think inone of our past videos, we had done
something around the civilrights era at this time. I think
it was some of the Emmett Tillseries of the Emmett Tills. And remember
when we did that? I alwayslike to kind of step back and look
at what are some of the.What's the other kind of just larger
(08:49):
societal context that's goingon at this time. And I remember one
of the things that we stuckout in my mind. I think it was 1950
or 55, Disneyland opened,right. So think about that. This
is the time when they'refinally saying segregation is unconstitutional,
it's wrong, it's against thelaw, at the same time that Disneyland
(09:12):
opened. And think about thelarger context of like, how just
different these two thingsare. And that. That, to me, that
always kind of puts things inperspective of like, oh my gosh,
I can't believe we were stilllike this as a. As a society at the
same time as like Disneylandand other, you know, you know, America
(09:33):
just moving forward so quicklynot too long after World War II.
Well, it kind of goes inside,Scott, with like, how different communities
try to bubble their.
Yeah.
How they work. Right. AndCalifornia, like I always say, most
people in the north weren'treally looking at what the south
(09:53):
was doing until the EmmettTill lynching. They kind. And. And
the court case after, whenpeople were like, what is happening
in the South? Because thathappens after Brown ver. Is the 55.
And the south tries to kind ofcontain itself and rule itself. Tries
to use that. The 10thAmendment, state rights. Right. It
(10:16):
tries to rule itself. Butfederally, when you put a federal
law, it. It circumvents thatAmendment. And so 1954, this is decided.
And the south still tries toreally dig in their heels, so much
so that the US Circuit judgehas to order desegregation of New
Orleans to begin. Like,because it's taken so long. And they
(10:39):
gave them six years. And heorders it to begin now. He orders
it to begin like the beginningof that 1960 school year in September.
Okay. And they Again, theschool board pushes back and they
put some, you know, differentkind of injunctions and stuff. And
then he says, November 14,1960. Now, what the anti. Segregate.
(11:03):
The. The segregates wanted waschildren to be already in school
and not wanting to want totransfer schools by November 14th.
So they agreed to that datebecause they thought oh. By that
time, kids will already besettled in their schools and they're
not going to want to.
They were kind of trying toplay that. That social game a little
(11:25):
bit.
Yes, but. And they also, like,did this testing to. To. You had
to test into these.
Yeah, I thought that wasinteresting. I wasn't aware that.
So the. You mentioned therewas, like, four young African, you
know, young black girls. AndRuby Bridge is obviously one of them,
but they took a test to kindof essentially, like, go to this
(11:46):
school.
Yeah, Actually there were sixof them.
Okay.
And four of them went toanother school. And Ruby Bridges.
And another girl was supposedto go to William France. And the
other girl, her parents kindof backed out because of the fear,
Right.
Yeah.
And so it really was the fiveof them who desegregated. But they
had to test high. They had totake these. These placement tests
(12:07):
and test high, and these girlsall did it. And so it's very interesting
that they were. It reminds meof the Tuskegee Airmen. Yeah, right.
When they tried to make it sodifficult to be accepted. And then
you get the best of the best.
Yeah. What they did was theyactually filtered out and got these.
The sm. Hardest, most driven,most just talented people to come,
(12:29):
which was counter to what theythought they were doing.
Yes, exactly. So you getpeople who are going to be successful,
and so. And so that's whathappens here. So it's November 14th.
They had hoped that kids didnot want to do this, but no, there
were parents who were very onboard with doing this. And of course,
Ruby Bridges, we get herparents who were involved with the
naacp. Her father's a littlebit more standoffish. He's worried
(12:53):
about the repercussions. He'sworried about the safety of his daughter.
He's worried about all thisspotlight, which is all understandable.
And. But her mother feels likethis is what's going to move African
American children forward.This is going to move education forward.
Ruby is a great example ofthis. Her mother was really on board
with it, and her mother isactually with her every day. Her
mother walks her into school.Her mother, in that very first day
(13:16):
of school, she doesn't evenget in the classroom. Her mother
sits with her all day. So hermother is part of this, standing
with her and being beside her,which I really feel is powerful,
too, to have that protectionof a parent.
And you know what I thoughtwas neat, too. So the teacher that
I mentioned in the beginning,and I know you're probably about
to talk to her about. To talkabout her, she was actually from
the Boston area. And so youkind of was serendipitous a little
(13:41):
bit, because I'm sure comingfrom a different part of the country
further up north, wheresegregation is not really as prevalent
up there. Right. She had movedto the south, and so naturally she
was probably just like, sure,I'll do this. Like, she had probably
grown up in a differentenvironment than those who grew up
(14:01):
in the South. So I thoughtthat was just an interesting fact.
Some kind of just powers thatbe. You know, everything's lining
up.
Yeah. Barbara Henry was hername. And she. Bridges, always thinks
of her favorably. She taughther as if she was teaching the whole
class. And she never let herfocus on what was happening outside.
(14:23):
She just made her, like, focuson the class. And then she would
eat her lunch with her. Shewould play with her in the playground.
So she really took it uponherself to like, immerse her as much
as she can in a regular schoolbecause nobody ever came into that
grade with her and was withher during that school year. Now,
let's talk a little bit aboutthe school, because that's where
(14:45):
we went. If you want to visitWilliam France Elementary School.
Yeah. They've actuallymaintained the front of it. It looks
almost exactly like it does inthe photos. There's some news and
video footage. It was pretty neat.
Yeah. It was built in 1937.Has kind of an art deco kind of look
to it like this traditionalschool. I don't think it's an elementary
school anymore. I think it'slike a high school now. But it's
(15:09):
at 3811 North Galvez street inNew Orleans. And it was this school
and McDonough Number 19elementary School that were both
desegregated in November of 1960.
And I'll. I'll put a link tothe location. So I always try to
put Google Maps links to allthese locations. So if you've been
listening and you want to goback and use these on as a reference
(15:30):
if you're traveling to one ofthese spots, I always try to put
Google Maps links to thesespots that we visit.
Yeah. And it was the first allwhite elementary school in the deep
south to be integrated. Wow,that's amazing. So it's there for
you. What's neat about goingthere is it looks the same as the
photographs. And you can walkthe steps. And there's a historic
marker there. And there isanother marker kind of dedicated
(15:53):
to Ruby Bridges with some ofthe famous photographs. And then
in 2014, a statue was unveiledin the courtyard. And you can go
to the statue of what shelooked like at 6 years old. So it's
really a amazing place tovisit because it's so much a part
of these ingrained photographsof American history. And to be there,
(16:14):
to sit on those steps, tostand there, I really felt honored
to do that and to tell thestory, leave the flag there. But
what's happening for RubyBridges that day is she doesn't realize
(16:35):
the, the big repercussion of,of what's happening. She doesn't
understand this, the riotsthat are going on.
Six years old.
She's six years old and eventhough people are chanting things,
she doesn't quite understandthe words and it rhymes. And she's
from New Orleans, so shethinks it's a Mardi Gras parade.
Like she's not afraid. And shelooks so brave because in her mind
(16:56):
she doesn't have any reason tobe afraid. She's so used to people
in New Orleans gathering andchanting and acting crazy for Mardi
Gras and she's like, okay,this is just a Mardi Gras thing.
So she really doesn't put too.She doesn't know that she's the focus.
She doesn't understand. Soshe, the marshals will always say
(17:16):
she was so brave and soldieredon and was just so confident in her
walk. And I think it's becauseshe doesn't realize everything that's
going on around to, to hersafety as well. And I think it's
so. Those pictures are sopowerful because she doesn't look
afraid. Six year old littlegirl doesn't look afraid. Standing
(17:38):
beside these men with the USMarshall bands on their arms in full
suits. You know, they're armedand they're protecting her. And you
don't really get to see what'shappening in front of her. The, the
huge protests of people. Andshe looks unfazed.
And I love that because it'sso different than some of the other
(17:59):
kind of desegregationeducation, desegregation photos that
you might be familiar with inour history books because you'll
see ones from, I can'tremember whether colleges or high
schools that you'll see, but alot of times these ones, they stick
out in my head. You'll seeblack man or woman walking into the,
you know, to the building forthe first time, but they kind of
(18:22):
like have their head down alittle bit. You know, you, you can
tell there's some tension. Youcan just kind of see it, right? It's
natural human biology.
Yeah.
And Ruby Bridges has none ofthat. And it was really neat. I encourage
you guys to go watch our videobecause I found old news clips, you
know that from, from 1960. Andthey, so they actually have a little
bit of video of her walking inand she's just trotting right along.
(18:44):
She walks right up and themarshals open up the door and you
know, all good.
I, I love that because itlike, it makes you feel brave. Yeah,
it makes you feel like if thissix year old girl can be so brave,
I can be brave. And yes, youdo see photographs of the sit ins
and you do see photographs ofBirmingham with the dogs and the
(19:04):
water and the fire hoses. Andyou do see the Little Rock Nine.
There's very famous picturesof Little Rock nine. One of the girls
who didn't know that they wereturned away that day and she's walking
by herself and then she has towalk by herself to the bus stop and
you see that very famouspicture of the white woman kind of
(19:25):
yelling at her. That's fromthe Little Rock Nine. And it's one
of the girls who is on her ownwalking to the bus stop and she sits
at the bus stop by herselfbecause she didn't realize that they
weren't going in that day. Andthere's a lot of story about that.
And we eventually will do astory about the Little Rock Nine.
And there was people when Ilooked up photos from when Ruby Bridges
(19:46):
went in for the first day andthere was obvious, obviously like
the, the protesters kind ofdied down and we'll talk more about
that. But that the first day,first couple days there's people
holding up signs that saysremember Little Rock?
Yes. So that happened just alittle bit before then. And again
Eisenhower had to send inNational Guard for that. So they're
(20:06):
hoping to circumvent that withU.S. marshals in this regard. The
white parents take theirchildren out of the school on November
14th because they know it'sgoing to be such a fanfare. Who knows,
maybe they are protesting,they don't want their child to go
to school with AfricanAmericans. Maybe they just don't
want the safety issue. But thevery next day after that first day
(20:27):
where Ruby Bridges goes toschool, a white student broke the
boycott and this was a 5 yearold girl who was walked in with her
34 year old white minister,father Lloyd Anderson foreman. And
they also got to hear all theprotest and the yelling and people
(20:48):
calling them names and stuff.But the next day one family took
a stand. Simply want theprivilege of Taking my child to school.
34 year old.
And he said, I simply want theprivilege of taking my child to school.
So he broke the line. And thenafter he did it, other white parents
(21:09):
started to do it. And whenother white parents started to do
it, the protests began to subside.
And that's one of the thingsthat I actually appreciated about
learning about this morebecause I learned by making these
videos. Right. I'm not likeyou, where I'm just kind of looking
this stuff up on my own.Again, we always joke. I'm not the
history nerd. You are. Right.But it was. I thought it was so neat
and it kind of made sense tome. Right. And to me as a. As a Christian
(21:32):
man, I kind of appreciatedthat, you know, a pastor minister
was taking his daughter toschool. But then you knew there were
parents that just neededsomeone to kind of break that seal,
for lack of a better way toput it, because they probably didn't.
They probably agreed withdesegregation. But finally they had
someone, you know, someoneelse who was white who did it first.
(21:54):
And then they actually havepictures and video of parents bringing
them in.
And I like that. It was apastor too, who did it. You have
to remember you're in NewOrleans, very Catholic.
Yeah.
Influence here. He's aMethodist minister, so I like that.
He's also, again, kind of inthe system. You're going to have
a child psychologist. I talkabout this in the video. Robert Coles,
(22:18):
he was of Air Force. He wasthere for the Air Force, his Air
Force base there in NewOrleans. And he volunteers his service
to counsel Ruby every dayduring that first year. So when she
came home from school, kind oftalked to her about how she was feeling
and how she's doing. And, youknow, what's it, how's it feel being
alone in the class? How do youfeel about what you're doing? How
do you know? And just kind ofmaking her not bottle in any kind
(22:41):
of things that she's goingthrough and emotions. He met with
her weekly and what'sinteresting is the clothing that
she's wearing. And I reallyemphasize this because I want you
to remember, William, Fran'sschool is not an upper scale white
school. It's still a whiteschool. And the clothing that she's
(23:03):
wearing, her parents said theycould not have been able to afford
it. But the. There's a family,a friend of the Kohl's family, who
anonymously sends theseclothes to Ruby Bridges for her to
wear to school. And there areclothes that you would see on an
upper scale, upper classfamily daughter. And so I think it
(23:26):
makes her represent that theonly thing that's different about
her is her skin color. Thatshe looks like any other middle class
little six year old girl wouldhave looked. She's wearing the dress,
she has the bow in her hair,she has the white socks with her
Mary Janes and the littlesweater and her book bag. So I feel
like that also made her feelmore confident because she looks,
(23:50):
you know, like she looks likenice and well taken care of. And
I think that like also I thinkemulates when you look at the photograph
that she looks like any otherchild would look except for the color
of her skin. And so that'swhat makes it different. And that's
what makes us contemplate andyou know, have interest in what she's
(24:13):
doing in American history.What's interesting is Norman Rockwell,
like you said, will cementthis into a painting that he does
in, in 1964, so four yearslater called the Problem We All Live
With. And he changes it alittle. Ruby Bridges, it looks a
little bit older in thepainting. And she's walking with
(24:36):
the Marshalls, kind of at aprofile walk. And you see a racial
slur written on the wallbehind her. But she looks just like
the Marshall. She's verystanding straight up, chin up, walking.
And you had said that RubyBridges got to meet President Obama
because this painting wastaken to the White House.
(24:56):
Yeah, that was cool.
And it was put in the WhiteHouse for some time. And President
Obama and Ruby Bridges got tolook at it together. And President
Obama said to her, because youdid that, I am standing here today.
And I love that how thatconnection of American history is
what we're always trying totalk about and show and do. And he's
(25:17):
exactly right. And I think alot of people don't get credit for
that in their lifetime ofdoing something that really changes
and moves American historyforward. But she got to have that
moment.
Yeah, it was really neatbecause again, a lot of this stuff
that I didn't know and alittle bit behind the scenes, it
took you like two or threetakes to say that on video. Because
(25:40):
you were like tearing uphardcore the first time you said
it.
I did. Because it's so powerful.
Yeah, well. And you're sopassionate about it and I appreciate
the things that you bring up.Because that's our goal on Talk with
History is like, why does thismatter? We read it in a book and
we might remember it from highschool, but then we watch a video,
(26:03):
we listen to A podcast. And wereally get to learn kind of the depth
and breadth and how that tiesto us today from 1960 all the way
up until we record this today.It's 2025.
Yeah. I mean, I think NormanRockwell is really considered the
great American painter. Right.His, his paintings were on the Saturday
Evening Post. I mean, there'sso many famous Norman Rockwell paintings.
(26:26):
And for him to choose thissubject matter and paint just says
a lot about what it meant inAmerican history because that's,
that's kind of what he did. Hecaptured moments of. We also talk
about in the video, theBridges family is going to suffer
(26:49):
some consequences for this.And unfortunately, you know, her
father's going to lose his jobat the gas station and the grocery
store, the family shop thatwould no longer let them shop there.
Their parent, theirgrandparents were sharecroppers in
Mississippi, are turned offtheir land. Now the father, then
there's people who are goingto rally around them. There is their
father. Someone's going tofind their father a job. There's
(27:12):
going to be people who offerto babysit and take care of their
family for free. So whiletheir mom goes with her to class
all day, they'll stay with theother children at the house. There's
other people who offerprotection, guarding their house
for them. And if you thinkabout the civil unrest during the
civil rights movement, thatwas very important. Unfortunately,
(27:33):
her parents do separatebecause of this and we talk about
that because again, I thinkthey both wanted to do something
important duringdesegregation. I think the mother
was more on board with, with,with going through with this kind
of action. I think her fatherwas more apprehensive that didn't
want Ruby Bridges to get hurt.
(27:54):
Yeah. And I can't even imaginethe kind of stress that puts not
just on the family and thesituation, but just life. Right.
If everything that'shappening, the whole world is looking
at you, you're just seeingvitriol and hate and protest everywhere.
Then you're losing your joband all this other stuff. And it
had to be tough.
Yeah. So you have to know,like Ruby Bridges is a symbol. And
(28:18):
I do love that the photographsshow her as a symbol. But don't think
there is not two parentsbehind that. And we know as parents
too, like a six year oldchild, it's like your parents are
behind there, like wringingtheir hands, like I'm putting my
daughter out there.
Well, and realistically, Imean, the parents were probably braver
than Ruby because Ruby admits,like she just thought it was a Mardi
(28:41):
Gras celebration.
Yeah.
You know, and so I can'timagine that as a parent of being
like, okay, we're gonna dothis. This is important enough for
me to put my child out therewith federal marshals walking through,
you know, protests like that.Like that. That was bravery on the
parents part. That it's toughto imagine.
(29:02):
Yeah. And I don't think I knowthey get credit, but I really want
to emphasize them as well. Andtheir names were Avon and Lucille
Bridges. I just want to givethem their credit in what they did.
Moving American historyforward. But if you ever want to
make it out there, it reallyis a neat place to visit. We really
(29:23):
had no problems getting thereand filming there. It seems like
it's there for you. There's nospecial access. I know that if you
ever can get into the school,they have preserved that classroom.
Oh yeah.
And so. But it is still a usedschool. But I guess that sometimes
they will do tours and thingslike that. So the classroom that
(29:43):
she was in for that first yearis preserved the way it looked then.
That's cool.
So that would be neat to seethat as well. We were unable to do
that. But it's there for you.And this is your history. This is
our history. So if you everget a chance to make it out to New
Orleans, please go and visitWilliam France Elementary School.
(30:08):
Today we explore theremarkable story of Ruby Bridges,
a six year old girl whosecourage helped break down the walls
of segregation in Americaneducation. Her daily walks to school
escorted through crowds ofangry protests, demonstrated extraordinary
bravery that most adults wouldfind challenging. And her parents
(30:29):
too. While Ruby's personalbattle to attend William France elementary
school happened over 60 yearsago, her story remains deeply relevant
today. It reminds us thatpositive change often requires immense
courage and that even theyoungest among us can make a profound
difference. Ruby's legacylives on through the countless students
(30:50):
who now learn and growtogether in classrooms across America.
Her story teaches us thateducation is a fundamental right
worth fighting for and thatthe power of one person's determination
can help transform a nation.Ruby Bridges truly left her own mark
on American history. This hasbeen a Walk with History production.
(31:13):
Talk with Talk with History iscreated and hosted by me, Scott Benny.
Episode researched by JenniferBenny. Check out the show notes for
links and references mentionedin this episode. Talk with History
is supported by ourfans@thehistoryroadtrip.com our eternal
thanks go out to thoseproviding funding to help keep us
going. Thank you to Judgment,Liberty, Larry Myers, Patrick Benny
(31:35):
and Gail.
She's 6 years old and eventhough people are chanting things,
she doesn't quite understandthe words and it rhymes and she's
from New Orleans so she thinksit's a Mardi Gras parade.
So they actually have a littlebit of video of her walking in and
she's just trotting right along.
It makes you feel like if thissix year old girl could be so brave,
I can be brave. PresidentObama said to her, because you did
(01:03):
that, I am standing here today.
Welcome. Welcome to Talk withHistory. I'm your host Scott, here
with my wife and historian Jen.
Hello.
On this podcast we give youinsights to our history Inspired
World Travels YouTube channelJourney and examine history through
(01:24):
deeper conversations with thecurious, the explorers and the history
lovers out there. Now, Jen,before we get into our main topic,
I want to shout out Pamelabecause Pamela, she left us a tip
over at her website,talkwithistory.com if you go to talkwithhistory.com
you can scroll to the bottomand you're actually able to there's
a link that says support andyou can drop us a tip. It's two bucks,
(01:46):
five bucks, whatever it is,but you can also leave us a comment
on there and it will post onthe website. You can post your comments
on there with a tip or you canleave it anonymously. You don't have
to. She said. Love your show.Currently listening to the Colonial
Williamsburg episode. Lived inRichmond in the 1990s. Many happy
memories in Williamsburg. Fivestars. So thank you so much Pamela.
That's actually one of ourmore popular podcast episodes because
(02:08):
I think it's very searchable.So if you want to tip the podcast
because you brought some valueto your history adventures, you can
head over totalkwithhistory.com support. Buy
us a coffee, buy us a sandwichor whatever it is. Thank you so much
for the support, for the feedback.
Yeah, we really appreciate it.Thank you pamela.
Thanks. In 1960, a brave sixyear old girl named Ruby Bridges
(02:39):
made history by becoming thefirst African American child to desegregate
an all white elementary schoolin New Orleans. Every morning, federal
marshals would escort youngRuby through the angry crowds just
so she could get an education.Something we take for granted today.
Can you imagine being sixyears old walking into school surrounded
(03:00):
by protesters, yet showing upday after day? Ruby did exactly that
at William France ElementarySchool, spending her entire first
grade year as the only studentin her class taught by a dedicated
teacher named Barbara Henry.While parents pulled their white
children from the school inprotest, Ruby's story became A powerful
symbol of the civil Rightsmovement, inspiring Norman Rockwell's
(03:25):
famous painting, the ProblemWe All Live with, and showing the
world that even a small childcould stand tall in the face of racial
injustice. All right, Jen. Sowe were down in New Orleans, down
in New Orleans, and we did abunch of stuff down there. We did
(03:46):
the history of New Orleans. Ifyou guys have been listening to the
podcast regularly, if you'renew to the podcast, go back. If you
like the New Orleans area, didthe history of New Orleans. We did
the World War II. We made avideo that's published. That podcast
is coming up soon on the WorldWar II Museum down there. We did
a couple things. One of thethings that I wasn't expecting to
do while we were down there,but we went and did it because you
(04:06):
said so, was we went toWilliam France Elementary School.
It's kind of out. I'll call itin the suburbs. I don't know. I don't
remember how far away it wasfrom. Was it really suburbs of New
Orleans or is it more likereally, like a solid 20, 30 minutes?
No, it's a suburb. I would sayit's called the Ninth Ward. So it's
a suburb of New Orleans.You're still a little bit along the
(04:27):
river there. If you knowanything about New Orleans. It kind
of has the river runs throughthe Mississippi, runs through New
Orleans, and it's kind of onthe outskirts of that, to the east.
And I had wanted to do thisbecause when you looked up historic
events of New Orleans, itpopped up. And we all are familiar
with the photographs, I think,of Ruby Bridges desegregating the
(04:50):
school, the little girlsurrounded by the federal marshals.
But I never really knew wherethat was. Like, I under. You know,
we all kind of know like. Likethe Little Rock Nine, and that that
happened in Little Rock,Arkansas. But Ruby Bridges, you know
the photograph, but you're notas sure where geographically that's
taking place. And when we werein New Orleans and I realized it
(05:12):
happened in New Orleans, I'mlike, we have to tell this story
well.
And it was interesting, too,because this is a little bit more
recent history. This is kindof. We've gone even more recent than
this. But this was 19. And soRuby Bridges is still around and
kicking today.
Oh, yeah, she's still.
I mean, she went. We'll talkabout a little bit later. But she
went to the White House tomeet President Obama.
(05:34):
Yes, yes. And yeah, so she'sstill alive today. So I've had people
comment on this video askingif any of those parents who are protesting
are still alive. And I'm like,I'm not sure about the parents, but
their children definitely areprobably still alive. And so it is
recent history. And peoplehave that conversation like, how
(05:55):
would you feel seeing yourgrandma on either side of that riot?
And it's just one of thosethings we can all learn from. And
history is still so present inour lives, whether or not how far
removed the time is, how welearn our history, if we can relate
to our history, if we can seepeople that we know in these historic
(06:15):
events or research them. Thisis one of those cases where you might
have some connection to this,and if you do, please let us know.
But it all stems from thisBrown. Brown versus the Board of
Education case. And what'sinteresting about this case is we're
kind of connected to this casebecause it's argued on December 9th,
(06:37):
1952. And December 9th is mybirthday. But it's decided May 17th.
Oh, wow.
1954, which is Scott'sbirthday. So 54 is when it's decided
that separate but equal is notseparate but equal. That this was
a Kansas City case of thisfamily who. They were African American
(07:00):
and their child lived closerto the white school and couldn't
go there and had to be busedfarther away to the segregated school.
And they were like, this makesno sense for our small child to have
to. Has double the time to goto another school. And the. And if
it's separate but equal, it'snot equal. The education wasn't equal.
And so they brought it all theway to the Supreme Court. It was
(07:22):
a unanimous decision, and Ireally feel like it overturned the
Plessy vs Ferguson decisionthat happened in 1896. And what's
interesting is that actuallyhappened in New Orleans. And that
case is where comes theseparate but equal comes from. When
Plessy was a free man ofcolor, tried to buy a. A train ticket
(07:44):
in a white car on a NewOrleans train car. And. And he. And
it wasn't upheld. He wasn'tallowed to do that. And that. That
the Supreme Court decidedseparate but equal. And so that's
one of those tarnishing markson the Supreme Court. And So I. This
1954 case kind of overturnedthat completely. Now it's decided
(08:06):
in 1954. Everybody equals notconstitutional. So what do all these
schools do? They hold off,right? They don't desegregate right
away. They try to dig in. Theytry to find different rules. They
try to find different thingsthat they can do to Kind of circumvent
this. And that's what'shappening in New Orleans. That's
(08:28):
why it takes six years.
And I always, like, I think inone of our past videos, we had done
something around the civilrights era at this time. I think
it was some of the Emmett Tillseries of the Emmett Tills. And remember
when we did that? I alwayslike to kind of step back and look
at what are some of the.What's the other kind of just larger
(08:49):
societal context that's goingon at this time. And I remember one
of the things that we stuckout in my mind. I think it was 1950
or 55, Disneyland opened,right. So think about that. This
is the time when they'refinally saying segregation is unconstitutional,
it's wrong, it's against thelaw, at the same time that Disneyland
(09:12):
opened. And think about thelarger context of like, how just
different these two thingsare. And that. That, to me, that
always kind of puts things inperspective of like, oh my gosh,
I can't believe we were stilllike this as a. As a society at the
same time as like Disneylandand other, you know, you know, America
(09:33):
just moving forward so quicklynot too long after World War II.
Well, it kind of goes inside,Scott, with like, how different communities
try to bubble their.
Yeah.
How they work. Right. AndCalifornia, like I always say, most
people in the north weren'treally looking at what the south
(09:53):
was doing until the EmmettTill lynching. They kind. And. And
the court case after, whenpeople were like, what is happening
in the South? Because thathappens after Brown ver. Is the 55.
And the south tries to kind ofcontain itself and rule itself. Tries
to use that. The 10thAmendment, state rights. Right. It
(10:16):
tries to rule itself. Butfederally, when you put a federal
law, it. It circumvents thatAmendment. And so 1954, this is decided.
And the south still tries toreally dig in their heels, so much
so that the US Circuit judgehas to order desegregation of New
Orleans to begin. Like,because it's taken so long. And they
(10:39):
gave them six years. And heorders it to begin now. He orders
it to begin like the beginningof that 1960 school year in September.
Okay. And they Again, theschool board pushes back and they
put some, you know, differentkind of injunctions and stuff. And
then he says, November 14,1960. Now, what the anti. Segregate.
(11:03):
The. The segregates wanted waschildren to be already in school
and not wanting to want totransfer schools by November 14th.
So they agreed to that datebecause they thought oh. By that
time, kids will already besettled in their schools and they're
not going to want to.
They were kind of trying toplay that. That social game a little
(11:25):
bit.
Yes, but. And they also, like,did this testing to. To. You had
to test into these.
Yeah, I thought that wasinteresting. I wasn't aware that.
So the. You mentioned therewas, like, four young African, you
know, young black girls. AndRuby Bridge is obviously one of them,
but they took a test to kindof essentially, like, go to this
(11:46):
school.
Yeah, Actually there were sixof them.
Okay.
And four of them went toanother school. And Ruby Bridges.
And another girl was supposedto go to William France. And the
other girl, her parents kindof backed out because of the fear,
Right.
Yeah.
And so it really was the fiveof them who desegregated. But they
had to test high. They had totake these. These placement tests
(12:07):
and test high, and these girlsall did it. And so it's very interesting
that they were. It reminds meof the Tuskegee Airmen. Yeah, right.
When they tried to make it sodifficult to be accepted. And then
you get the best of the best.
Yeah. What they did was theyactually filtered out and got these.
The sm. Hardest, most driven,most just talented people to come,
(12:29):
which was counter to what theythought they were doing.
Yes, exactly. So you getpeople who are going to be successful,
and so. And so that's whathappens here. So it's November 14th.
They had hoped that kids didnot want to do this, but no, there
were parents who were very onboard with doing this. And of course,
Ruby Bridges, we get herparents who were involved with the
naacp. Her father's a littlebit more standoffish. He's worried
(12:53):
about the repercussions. He'sworried about the safety of his daughter.
He's worried about all thisspotlight, which is all understandable.
And. But her mother feels likethis is what's going to move African
American children forward.This is going to move education forward.
Ruby is a great example ofthis. Her mother was really on board
with it, and her mother isactually with her every day. Her
mother walks her into school.Her mother, in that very first day
(13:16):
of school, she doesn't evenget in the classroom. Her mother
sits with her all day. So hermother is part of this, standing
with her and being beside her,which I really feel is powerful,
too, to have that protectionof a parent.
And you know what I thoughtwas neat, too. So the teacher that
I mentioned in the beginning,and I know you're probably about
to talk to her about. To talkabout her, she was actually from
the Boston area. And so youkind of was serendipitous a little
(13:41):
bit, because I'm sure comingfrom a different part of the country
further up north, wheresegregation is not really as prevalent
up there. Right. She had movedto the south, and so naturally she
was probably just like, sure,I'll do this. Like, she had probably
grown up in a differentenvironment than those who grew up
(14:01):
in the South. So I thoughtthat was just an interesting fact.
Some kind of just powers thatbe. You know, everything's lining
up.
Yeah. Barbara Henry was hername. And she. Bridges, always thinks
of her favorably. She taughther as if she was teaching the whole
class. And she never let herfocus on what was happening outside.
(14:23):
She just made her, like, focuson the class. And then she would
eat her lunch with her. Shewould play with her in the playground.
So she really took it uponherself to like, immerse her as much
as she can in a regular schoolbecause nobody ever came into that
grade with her and was withher during that school year. Now,
let's talk a little bit aboutthe school, because that's where
(14:45):
we went. If you want to visitWilliam France Elementary School.
Yeah. They've actuallymaintained the front of it. It looks
almost exactly like it does inthe photos. There's some news and
video footage. It was pretty neat.
Yeah. It was built in 1937.Has kind of an art deco kind of look
to it like this traditionalschool. I don't think it's an elementary
school anymore. I think it'slike a high school now. But it's
(15:09):
at 3811 North Galvez street inNew Orleans. And it was this school
and McDonough Number 19elementary School that were both
desegregated in November of 1960.
And I'll. I'll put a link tothe location. So I always try to
put Google Maps links to allthese locations. So if you've been
listening and you want to goback and use these on as a reference
(15:30):
if you're traveling to one ofthese spots, I always try to put
Google Maps links to thesespots that we visit.
Yeah. And it was the first allwhite elementary school in the deep
south to be integrated. Wow,that's amazing. So it's there for
you. What's neat about goingthere is it looks the same as the
photographs. And you can walkthe steps. And there's a historic
marker there. And there isanother marker kind of dedicated
(15:53):
to Ruby Bridges with some ofthe famous photographs. And then
in 2014, a statue was unveiledin the courtyard. And you can go
to the statue of what shelooked like at 6 years old. So it's
really a amazing place tovisit because it's so much a part
of these ingrained photographsof American history. And to be there,
(16:14):
to sit on those steps, tostand there, I really felt honored
to do that and to tell thestory, leave the flag there. But
what's happening for RubyBridges that day is she doesn't realize
(16:35):
the, the big repercussion of,of what's happening. She doesn't
understand this, the riotsthat are going on.
Six years old.
She's six years old and eventhough people are chanting things,
she doesn't quite understandthe words and it rhymes. And she's
from New Orleans, so shethinks it's a Mardi Gras parade.
Like she's not afraid. And shelooks so brave because in her mind
(16:56):
she doesn't have any reason tobe afraid. She's so used to people
in New Orleans gathering andchanting and acting crazy for Mardi
Gras and she's like, okay,this is just a Mardi Gras thing.
So she really doesn't put too.She doesn't know that she's the focus.
She doesn't understand. Soshe, the marshals will always say
(17:16):
she was so brave and soldieredon and was just so confident in her
walk. And I think it's becauseshe doesn't realize everything that's
going on around to, to hersafety as well. And I think it's
so. Those pictures are sopowerful because she doesn't look
afraid. Six year old littlegirl doesn't look afraid. Standing
(17:38):
beside these men with the USMarshall bands on their arms in full
suits. You know, they're armedand they're protecting her. And you
don't really get to see what'shappening in front of her. The, the
huge protests of people. Andshe looks unfazed.
And I love that because it'sso different than some of the other
(17:59):
kind of desegregationeducation, desegregation photos that
you might be familiar with inour history books because you'll
see ones from, I can'tremember whether colleges or high
schools that you'll see, but alot of times these ones, they stick
out in my head. You'll seeblack man or woman walking into the,
you know, to the building forthe first time, but they kind of
(18:22):
like have their head down alittle bit. You know, you, you can
tell there's some tension. Youcan just kind of see it, right? It's
natural human biology.
Yeah.
And Ruby Bridges has none ofthat. And it was really neat. I encourage
you guys to go watch our videobecause I found old news clips, you
know that from, from 1960. Andthey, so they actually have a little
bit of video of her walking inand she's just trotting right along.
(18:44):
She walks right up and themarshals open up the door and you
know, all good.
I, I love that because itlike, it makes you feel brave. Yeah,
it makes you feel like if thissix year old girl can be so brave,
I can be brave. And yes, youdo see photographs of the sit ins
and you do see photographs ofBirmingham with the dogs and the
(19:04):
water and the fire hoses. Andyou do see the Little Rock Nine.
There's very famous picturesof Little Rock nine. One of the girls
who didn't know that they wereturned away that day and she's walking
by herself and then she has towalk by herself to the bus stop and
you see that very famouspicture of the white woman kind of
(19:25):
yelling at her. That's fromthe Little Rock Nine. And it's one
of the girls who is on her ownwalking to the bus stop and she sits
at the bus stop by herselfbecause she didn't realize that they
weren't going in that day. Andthere's a lot of story about that.
And we eventually will do astory about the Little Rock Nine.
And there was people when Ilooked up photos from when Ruby Bridges
(19:46):
went in for the first day andthere was obvious, obviously like
the, the protesters kind ofdied down and we'll talk more about
that. But that the first day,first couple days there's people
holding up signs that saysremember Little Rock?
Yes. So that happened just alittle bit before then. And again
Eisenhower had to send inNational Guard for that. So they're
(20:06):
hoping to circumvent that withU.S. marshals in this regard. The
white parents take theirchildren out of the school on November
14th because they know it'sgoing to be such a fanfare. Who knows,
maybe they are protesting,they don't want their child to go
to school with AfricanAmericans. Maybe they just don't
want the safety issue. But thevery next day after that first day
(20:27):
where Ruby Bridges goes toschool, a white student broke the
boycott and this was a 5 yearold girl who was walked in with her
34 year old white minister,father Lloyd Anderson foreman. And
they also got to hear all theprotest and the yelling and people
(20:48):
calling them names and stuff.But the next day one family took
a stand. Simply want theprivilege of Taking my child to school.
34 year old.
And he said, I simply want theprivilege of taking my child to school.
So he broke the line. And thenafter he did it, other white parents
(21:09):
started to do it. And whenother white parents started to do
it, the protests began to subside.
And that's one of the thingsthat I actually appreciated about
learning about this morebecause I learned by making these
videos. Right. I'm not likeyou, where I'm just kind of looking
this stuff up on my own.Again, we always joke. I'm not the
history nerd. You are. Right.But it was. I thought it was so neat
and it kind of made sense tome. Right. And to me as a. As a Christian
(21:32):
man, I kind of appreciatedthat, you know, a pastor minister
was taking his daughter toschool. But then you knew there were
parents that just neededsomeone to kind of break that seal,
for lack of a better way toput it, because they probably didn't.
They probably agreed withdesegregation. But finally they had
someone, you know, someoneelse who was white who did it first.
(21:54):
And then they actually havepictures and video of parents bringing
them in.
And I like that. It was apastor too, who did it. You have
to remember you're in NewOrleans, very Catholic.
Yeah.
Influence here. He's aMethodist minister, so I like that.
He's also, again, kind of inthe system. You're going to have
a child psychologist. I talkabout this in the video. Robert Coles,
(22:18):
he was of Air Force. He wasthere for the Air Force, his Air
Force base there in NewOrleans. And he volunteers his service
to counsel Ruby every dayduring that first year. So when she
came home from school, kind oftalked to her about how she was feeling
and how she's doing. And, youknow, what's it, how's it feel being
alone in the class? How do youfeel about what you're doing? How
do you know? And just kind ofmaking her not bottle in any kind
(22:41):
of things that she's goingthrough and emotions. He met with
her weekly and what'sinteresting is the clothing that
she's wearing. And I reallyemphasize this because I want you
to remember, William, Fran'sschool is not an upper scale white
school. It's still a whiteschool. And the clothing that she's
(23:03):
wearing, her parents said theycould not have been able to afford
it. But the. There's a family,a friend of the Kohl's family, who
anonymously sends theseclothes to Ruby Bridges for her to
wear to school. And there areclothes that you would see on an
upper scale, upper classfamily daughter. And so I think it
(23:26):
makes her represent that theonly thing that's different about
her is her skin color. Thatshe looks like any other middle class
little six year old girl wouldhave looked. She's wearing the dress,
she has the bow in her hair,she has the white socks with her
Mary Janes and the littlesweater and her book bag. So I feel
like that also made her feelmore confident because she looks,
(23:50):
you know, like she looks likenice and well taken care of. And
I think that like also I thinkemulates when you look at the photograph
that she looks like any otherchild would look except for the color
of her skin. And so that'swhat makes it different. And that's
what makes us contemplate andyou know, have interest in what she's
(24:13):
doing in American history.What's interesting is Norman Rockwell,
like you said, will cementthis into a painting that he does
in, in 1964, so four yearslater called the Problem We All Live
With. And he changes it alittle. Ruby Bridges, it looks a
little bit older in thepainting. And she's walking with
(24:36):
the Marshalls, kind of at aprofile walk. And you see a racial
slur written on the wallbehind her. But she looks just like
the Marshall. She's verystanding straight up, chin up, walking.
And you had said that RubyBridges got to meet President Obama
because this painting wastaken to the White House.
(24:56):
Yeah, that was cool.
And it was put in the WhiteHouse for some time. And President
Obama and Ruby Bridges got tolook at it together. And President
Obama said to her, because youdid that, I am standing here today.
And I love that how thatconnection of American history is
what we're always trying totalk about and show and do. And he's
(25:17):
exactly right. And I think alot of people don't get credit for
that in their lifetime ofdoing something that really changes
and moves American historyforward. But she got to have that
moment.
Yeah, it was really neatbecause again, a lot of this stuff
that I didn't know and alittle bit behind the scenes, it
took you like two or threetakes to say that on video. Because
(25:40):
you were like tearing uphardcore the first time you said
it.
I did. Because it's so powerful.
Yeah, well. And you're sopassionate about it and I appreciate
the things that you bring up.Because that's our goal on Talk with
History is like, why does thismatter? We read it in a book and
we might remember it from highschool, but then we watch a video,
(26:03):
we listen to A podcast. And wereally get to learn kind of the depth
and breadth and how that tiesto us today from 1960 all the way
up until we record this today.It's 2025.
Yeah. I mean, I think NormanRockwell is really considered the
great American painter. Right.His, his paintings were on the Saturday
Evening Post. I mean, there'sso many famous Norman Rockwell paintings.
(26:26):
And for him to choose thissubject matter and paint just says
a lot about what it meant inAmerican history because that's,
that's kind of what he did. Hecaptured moments of. We also talk
about in the video, theBridges family is going to suffer
(26:49):
some consequences for this.And unfortunately, you know, her
father's going to lose his jobat the gas station and the grocery
store, the family shop thatwould no longer let them shop there.
Their parent, theirgrandparents were sharecroppers in
Mississippi, are turned offtheir land. Now the father, then
there's people who are goingto rally around them. There is their
father. Someone's going tofind their father a job. There's
(27:12):
going to be people who offerto babysit and take care of their
family for free. So whiletheir mom goes with her to class
all day, they'll stay with theother children at the house. There's
other people who offerprotection, guarding their house
for them. And if you thinkabout the civil unrest during the
civil rights movement, thatwas very important. Unfortunately,
(27:33):
her parents do separatebecause of this and we talk about
that because again, I thinkthey both wanted to do something
important duringdesegregation. I think the mother
was more on board with, with,with going through with this kind
of action. I think her fatherwas more apprehensive that didn't
want Ruby Bridges to get hurt.
(27:54):
Yeah. And I can't even imaginethe kind of stress that puts not
just on the family and thesituation, but just life. Right.
If everything that'shappening, the whole world is looking
at you, you're just seeingvitriol and hate and protest everywhere.
Then you're losing your joband all this other stuff. And it
had to be tough.
Yeah. So you have to know,like Ruby Bridges is a symbol. And
(28:18):
I do love that the photographsshow her as a symbol. But don't think
there is not two parentsbehind that. And we know as parents
too, like a six year oldchild, it's like your parents are
behind there, like wringingtheir hands, like I'm putting my
daughter out there.
Well, and realistically, Imean, the parents were probably braver
than Ruby because Ruby admits,like she just thought it was a Mardi
(28:41):
Gras celebration.
Yeah.
You know, and so I can'timagine that as a parent of being
like, okay, we're gonna dothis. This is important enough for
me to put my child out therewith federal marshals walking through,
you know, protests like that.Like that. That was bravery on the
parents part. That it's toughto imagine.
(29:02):
Yeah. And I don't think I knowthey get credit, but I really want
to emphasize them as well. Andtheir names were Avon and Lucille
Bridges. I just want to givethem their credit in what they did.
Moving American historyforward. But if you ever want to
make it out there, it reallyis a neat place to visit. We really
(29:23):
had no problems getting thereand filming there. It seems like
it's there for you. There's nospecial access. I know that if you
ever can get into the school,they have preserved that classroom.
Oh yeah.
And so. But it is still a usedschool. But I guess that sometimes
they will do tours and thingslike that. So the classroom that
(29:43):
she was in for that first yearis preserved the way it looked then.
That's cool.
So that would be neat to seethat as well. We were unable to do
that. But it's there for you.And this is your history. This is
our history. So if you everget a chance to make it out to New
Orleans, please go and visitWilliam France Elementary School.
(30:08):
Today we explore theremarkable story of Ruby Bridges,
a six year old girl whosecourage helped break down the walls
of segregation in Americaneducation. Her daily walks to school
escorted through crowds ofangry protests, demonstrated extraordinary
bravery that most adults wouldfind challenging. And her parents
(30:29):
too. While Ruby's personalbattle to attend William France elementary
school happened over 60 yearsago, her story remains deeply relevant
today. It reminds us thatpositive change often requires immense
courage and that even theyoungest among us can make a profound
difference. Ruby's legacylives on through the countless students
(30:50):
who now learn and growtogether in classrooms across America.
Her story teaches us thateducation is a fundamental right
worth fighting for and thatthe power of one person's determination
can help transform a nation.Ruby Bridges truly left her own mark
on American history. This hasbeen a Walk with History production.
(31:13):
Talk with Talk with History iscreated and hosted by me, Scott Benny.
Episode researched by JenniferBenny. Check out the show notes for
links and references mentionedin this episode. Talk with History
is supported by ourfans@thehistoryroadtrip.com our eternal
thanks go out to thoseproviding funding to help keep us
going. Thank you to Judgment,Liberty, Larry Myers, Patrick Benny
(31:35):
and Gail.
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