Ruby Bridges

Imagine you are in a classroom. Look around you. There are different races everywhere. You see all different skin colors and backgrounds. All because of Ruby Bridges. Education was different than it is today. Ruby Bridges was the first African American to integrate an all white school. Born Ruby Nell Bridges on September 8, 1954. She was born in Tylertown, Mississippi. She grew up on her family's farm. But she moved at age four to New Orleans because her parent's were hoping for a better life. She has two younger brothers and one younger sister. Ruby was one of the six children in her city to test to go to an all white school. She was the only one to pass. So on November 14, 1960 she was the first African American to go to an all white school. A hero must possess courage and strength. Ruby is a hero because she is courageous and for representing something she believed in.

Ruby represented the idea that all people are equal. She believed that all people deserved a good education. She went through many hardships just to receive this. "The jeering segregationists continued their protest for a year, and the school remained largely empty for at least that long, because white parents would not permit their children to attend. There was also fallout at Bridges' home. As a result of her participation in school integration, Bridges' father lost his job and was unable to find another for nearly five years. Likely because of the stress, her parents divorced when she was 12." (Gale Biography in Context) Ruby as well as her family paid the price for what they believed in. They were kicked out of grocery stores, lost their jobs, and even fell apart as a whole. But they wanted and believed in something bigger. Education is vital and if anyone wants to succeed in the world they have to be educated. Everyone deserves the right to succeed and be able to think on his or her own. Later in her life, Ruby still represented the same idea of equality. "In 1995 she founded the Ruby Bridges Education Foundation (now the Ruby Bridges Foundation) to promote education and inter-racial harmony. But even as the years passed and Bridges faded from the public eye, she was not forgotten." (Gale Biography in Context) Ruby believes that the reason there is racism is because parents teach it to their kids. Babies come clean into the world and are taught the hate that they have. They learn from their parent's behaviors and habits. The way someone looks or his or her skin color shouldn't determine their education or social ranking. She is a hero because now all African Americans are able to go to school and get a good education. They are also able to go to school worry free. Her belief has changed many lives for the better.

Ruby Bridges is a courageous woman. Her courage and strength throughout her entire life makes her a true hero. Even as a young girl, she was courageous. "First African-American child to integrate a white Southern elementary school, having to be escorted to class by her mother and U.S. marshals due to violent mobs." (The Biography Channel website) This act made her the most famous because she was the first African American to integrate in a white school. She endured all the hatred and violent mobs each day just to go to school. She stayed strong even when everyone was against her. These people were evil and were taught to hate her. Not because of who she was but because of what she looked like. The hate carried on into the classroom she was assigned to. Parents went crazy when they realized Ruby was in their child's class. "I remember being escorted to the room and arriving there and seeing an empty classroom--nothing but rows and rows of desks, and no students. I was accustomed to being with other kids--that's what I expected school to be like. Yet, this school was different, because there were no other kids. That's what bothered me the most. I was constantly looking for them, thinking they were just in another room, or, they were in some other part of the building." (Renwick) Ruby had to be in a classroom alone and she had no friends. That would be exceptionally hard for any child. At the time, she didn't understand the extent of everything that was going on. But regardless of that, she stayed strong even when she was lonely. She was there for her education and nothing was going to get in the way of her learning. Ruby's courage is now the reason why African American's and white children are able to go to school together. She proved the protesting parent's wrong.

Ruby's courage and her representation of what she believed changed America and education forever. She got an education and the people against her wrong. What she believed in was right. Everyone deserves an education. Ruby Bridges inspires me because she was able to go through so much and still stay strong. It shows me that whatever happens not to put on a frown or lose courage but to stick with it and not give up. And she showed me to not give up what I believe in. Ruby Bridges is a true hero and has affected America forever.