The Times-Picayune is marking the tricentennial of New Orleans with its ongoing 300 for 300 project, running through 2018 and highlighting the moments and people that connect and inspire us. Today, the series continues with a look at the day in November 1960 in which one tiny 6-year-old girl exhibited enormous bravery.
THEN: Escorted by federal marshals past screaming protesters, 6-year-old Ruby Bridges became the first African-American student at William Frantz Elementary School on Nov. 14, 1960. Almost as soon as she went in, white parents began pulling their children out of the school -- as well as out of McDonogh No. 19, which was integrated the same day -- but, The Times-Picayune reported the next day, there was no violence, as some feared there might be. With that, the newspaper's coverage continued, "desegregation of schools here was a fact."
NOW: Ruby Bridges quickly become a symbol of courage in the face of overwhelming prejudice and outright anger. It's a mantle she wears as an adult just as she handled the difficult role forced upon her as a child: with grace. In 1999, Bridges, who still lives in New Orleans, founded the Ruby Bridges Foundation to promote ""the values of tolerance, respect, and appreciation of all differences." She still continues to inspire. "Everybody knows these are very trying times for us in this country," she said in a 2016 interview with The Washington Post. "I believe that we have to come together and we have to rely on the goodness of each other. Faith will help us get through this, just as it did before."
- Three other black girls -- first-graders Leona Tate, Tessie Prevost and Gail Etienne -- integrated McDonogh No. 19 Elementary School the same day that Bridges entered Frantz. Like Bridges, they had the school largely to themselves because white parents withdrew their children. The girls left after two years.
That unforgettable image of the tiny Bridges waking down the school steps surrounded by towering federal marshals endures as an iconic symbol of school integration in New Orleans -- and in America. Artist Norman Rockwell painted for Look magazine a work titled "The Problem We All Live With," which shows Bridges being escorted to school. It was on display in the White House in 2011, when Bridges met with President Barack Obama, the country's first black president. Speaking of her and other civil rights icons, Obama said: "I think it's fair to say that if it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't be here today."
By: John Pope, contributing writer
Sources: The Times-Picayune; staff research
More on 300 for 300:
- Learn about the 300 for 300 series