Kekla Magoon - She Persisted: Ruby Bridges

When Ruby Bridges was born in 1954, her parents brought her home, full of hope that their daughter would grow up in a better world than they had. Little did they know how big a role Ruby herself would play in building that better world.

Ruby and her parents lived on her grandparents farm in Tylertown, Mississippi. The family loved their land, and they loved being together. Farming was very challenging work. Everyone helped out, even young Ruby! As she grew, she visited her other grandparents farm, too. She and her cousins picked beans and cucumbers and helped with canning to preserve them.

The Bridges family worked very hard, but they did not have a lot of money. Rubys father tried to get another job to help support the family, but it was hard to find a business that would hire him.

The United States of America was a difficult place for Black people, like Rubys family, to live. Mississippi was an especially hard place for a Black family to live, because of certain laws that affected Black people. These laws enforced a system called segregation. Segregation laws kept Black people and white people apart. They had to eat in separate restaurants and live in separate neighborhoods. At movie theaters, there was one door for white people and a separate door for Black people. On every bus, there were separate seating sections for Black people and white people. In the park, there was one drinking fountain for Black people and another one for white people. Black children went to all-Black schools and white children went to all-white schools.

The worst part was the schools, water fountains, and seating areas for Black people were not as nice as the ones for white people. This was very unfair. Black people felt angry and frustrated about the way they were being treated. But the country had been using segregation laws for a long time, and people were used to it. Some people were eager to see these laws change, but many others were afraid.

When Ruby was two or three years old, running around on her grandparents farm, she had no idea what segregation was. She did not know that people were going to treat her unfairly because of the color of her skin. She had never even spoken to a white person! She was happy in her all-Black world.

Rubys parents knew all about segregation. They worried about Rubys future. Rubys parents did not know how to read or write, because they hadnt been able to go to school. They wanted Ruby to have a chance to learn. They wanted her to have every opportunity that a white child might have. So they decided to leave their small Mississippi town and move to New Orleans, Louisiana. Rubys parents believed that living in a big city would give Ruby a chance to go to a good school.

Why? Well, in 1954, the year Ruby was born, something important had happened. The United States Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, heard a story about a Black girl named Linda Brown who wanted to go to the best school in her city, which was an all-white school. After hearing her story, the Supreme Court decided that segregation laws were unfair because they stopped Black children like Linda from going to the best schools. The court ordered schools across the country to integrate, which meant that they needed to allow Black and white students to attend the same schools.

Ruby was four years old when her family moved to New Orleans. It had also been four years since the Supreme Court ordered schools to integrate, but New Orleans schools were still segregated.

Ruby had not started school yet, but she knew that she would start kindergarten soon. Her family moved into two bedrooms of a house in an all-Black neighborhood. Ruby and her three younger siblings shared a bedroom. She missed her grandparents and the farm, but she was able to visit them in the summer. My world in those days was comfortable and safe, Ruby said.

She did not know that was about to change.