What do you see in the picture?
what do you think is happening?
The photo shows 6 year old Ruby Bridges going to school on 14 November 1960 in Louisiana, USA. Ruby was the first black child to go to an all-white primary school in Louisiana.
Waiting for Ruby at the school gates was a protest. White parents and children shouted, yelled names and held placards, one said, "All I want for Christmas is a clean white school!" One woman held up a small coffin with a back doll in it.
Ruby was escorted in to the school by four federal agents. She was escorted to and from school every day as the protesters were always there and she spent the first year in the school working in a classroom on her own.
Speaking today, Ruby says she was not aware of what was happening. Her parents had not explained to her that she was going to an all-white school. Originally there were three back children joining the school but the other two dropped out before the first day. Ruby says she thought the protest was a carnival and she wasn't afraid, but she did have nightmares about the coffin.
Today Ruby is shocked about what happened and questions why her parents sent her in to that environment. But she understands;
"They were not allowed to go to school. Neither one of them had a formal education. If it was time for them to get the crops in, or to work, school was a luxury; that was something they couldn't do. So they really wanted opportunities for their children that they were not allowed to have."
Both her parents lost their jobs because Ruby went to the school. Her dad was advised not to go and look for work for his own safety. The family became dependent on donations from local well-wishers but even their local store refused to serve them. Ruby says she remembers writing to Santa Clause asking for him to give her dad his job back as he didn't have a job because she was going to school.
White parents withdrew their children from the school and all the staff refused to teach Ruby, except one, Barbara Henry. For a year Barbara and Ruby worked alone in a classroom.
Towards the end of the year white parents started letting their children back to school although they were kept apart from Ruby. It wasn't until the end of the year that Ruby was allowed to work in a class with other children. Ruby describes how a boy said to her on the first day, "My mom says not to play with you because you're a n*****" and that was the moment she realised what was happening;
"All the little pieces that I'd been collecting in my mind all fit and then I realised; the reason there's no kids here is because of me and the colour of my skin. That's why I can't go to recess. It's not Mardi Gras. It all sort of came together; a very rude awakening. I often say today that was my first introduction to racism."
Ruby argues the little boy was not being knowingly racist towards her; he was simply explaining why he couldn't play with her, "Racism is learned behaviour, we pass it on to our kids, and it continues from one generation to the next. That moment proved it to me."
The following year the protests died down and a few more African Americans joined the school. Ruby finished school and worked as a travel agent for American Express so she got to travel around the world. Today she visits schools to promote cultural understanding and films have been made about her. Today there is a statue of Ruby in the courtyard of the school. The photo below shows Ruby in 2013 with one of the marshals who escorted her in 1960.
Ruby says today that schools must be integrated; "It's important that kids have an opportunity to learn about one another; to grow together, play together, learn together.... we're never going to become the United States of America unless we, the people, are united."
- what is racism?
- why were there no black children at the school before Ruby?
- why do you think the other two black children pulled out? Do you understand/ agree with their decision?
- why did Ruby's parents choose to send their 6 year old daughter in to such a hostile environment? What would you have done in their position?
- Why do you think the protests happened?
- would that happen today? Why not? How do you think the people that were protesting feel about their protest now? What does that show us about ideas changing over time?
- why was Ruby's dad advised to stop looking for work?
- how do we know that 6 year old Ruby blamed herself for her dad losing his job?
- when / how did Ruby realise this situation was caused by racism? She says the boy wasn't being "knowingly racist" how do you think she feels about him and his words today?
- "Racism is learned behaviour," what does this mean? what do you think?
- There is a statue of Ruby at the school. Why do you think the school chose to erect a statue, why don't they just move on and forget about this story?
- what can we learn from Ruby?
- why is this about No Outsiders?
www.no-outsiders.com
No Outsiders: Everyone different, everyone welcome by Andrew Moffat
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