By Logan Bishop '24 and Abby Paras '24
Ruby Bridges became a powerful symbol of the Civil Rights movement when she was just six years old. After the 1954 Supreme Court ruling of Brown vs. the Board of Education struck down segregation in public schools, black students were allowed to attend previously all-white schools. Ruby Bridges was one such student. On November 14 1960, six years after Brown vs the Board of Education, Ruby was escorted by four federal marshals into William Frantz Public School in New Orleans, Louisiana. The marshalls were necessary as previous attempts to integrate schools in the south had resulted in crisis. In 1957, the Little Rock Crisis, in which a group of nine black students attempted to attend a previously all-white public school in Arkansas, resulted in the Arkansas National Guard blocking their way.
Every day, as the marshals escorted her into the school, Ruby had insults and slurs hurled at her. The Louisiana public school system attempted to fight the integration process. Parents and public officials worked to degrade Ruby day in and day out, and it seemed as if everyone was against her. However, her will and the wills of her parents held steadfast. She continued attending in spite of everything.
Many parents refused to have their children attend an integrated school, and many of them pulled their children out of the school. For many months, Ruby was alone in the classroom, except for her teacher, Barbara Henry. Throughout the school year, they held strong. Towards the end of the year, the number of people in the angry crowds outside her school thinned. In the next year, she was allowed to walk to school by herself and interact with the other students.
Though Ruby was held up as a beacon of courage, and many of the eyewitnesses of the period can corroborate, it is important to remember that was just a six year old kid who wanted to attend school like everyone else. Yet, because of her race, fully grown adults and the institution felt the need to harass her daily in the name of white supremacy. No person, especially not a child, should ever have to go through that.
The College of William and Mary had officially begun the process of desegregation a decade prior and did not admit an African-American student until 1951. Even today, the College remains a Predominantly White Institution, with about 60% of the class of 2025 identifying as white. The Lemon Project has done several reports on the history of black students at William and Mary who were in similar situations to Ruby Bridges.
As an adult, Ruby founded the Ruby Bridges Foundation, which works to increase awareness of the ongoing problems of discrimination in schools. She graduated business school and traveled the country to raise awareness of her situation and similar ones that other students were going through, even years later. According to her foundation, November 14 is Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day, also to help raise awareness and continue teaching the history of desegregation in schools.
On the final day of Black History Month, it is important to note that Ruby is only 67 years old. What many people see as a historical event was her reality, and she is younger than many people at the College’s grandparents, or even possibly the same age as their parents. The things that Ruby Bridges had to face may seem like they occurred long ago, but the truth is that now more than ever, the country and this College need to be aware of the long, complicated history of race relations and the Civil Rights movement, as they are still incredibly relevant today.
Sources/For Further Reading