Ruby Bridges

Her name was Ruby Bridges. This one six year old girl changed history forever. Ever since she was six years old, she has been conquering laws against black people. Here is her brave story of fight, and strength.

When Ruby was born on September 8, 1954 in Tylertown, Mississippi, she didn't know what would come in her future years. She didn't know she would become a hero at only six years old. I mean, she grew up on a farm, and probably thought she didn't have a chance in succeeding in life because of her standards. She was wrong though. Her parents, Abon and Lucille Bridges, wanted a better life for Ruby, themselves, and the children they would have. So they moved from her grandfather's farm to the big city of New Orleans.

When she was in kindergarten, she was chosen to take a very complicated test to see if she could get into an all-white school. It was complicated on purpose because the whites didn't want any black people at the all-white school. She lived barely five blocks away from the all-white school, but had to walked to a black school which was about 5 miles away from her home. Her father, Abon, didn't want her to take the test because he thought that if she got in, that there would be trouble because of the segregation issue. Ruby's mother, Lucille, thought it would be a good idea to let Ruby take the test. Abon Bridges finally gave in, because you know, you can't beat a woman in a fight.

When she woke up on November 14, 2012, she had a mission: To conquer all ethnicity problems and just go to school. She was one of the six African-American children who actually passed the test. Ruby thought it was foolish that schools were segregated, even at six years old, she knew that all anyone needed was to learn. The school had called U.S Marshalls to arrive on the scene and escort young Ruby inside. This was obviously a good idea because people would have most likely been violent towards her. When she got there, she thought it was like a Mardi Gras celebration because of all the yelling and objects being thrown. All of the white parents kept their children home from school that day, and since Ruby was the only child that came to school, she had to stay in the principal's office all day. Ruby wasn't the only one with troubles though, her dad lost his job, her grandpa lost the share-cropped farm that they had for twenty-five years. After a while though, people, black and white, protested against this nonsense. Their neighbor gave Abon Bridges a job, people sent them food because they weren't allowed inside the grocery store, and good people baby-sat for Lucille Williams.

The hate towards Ruby continued for a couple of weeks, but she pushed through it. Even though she had to eat lunch alone, have only one teacher teach her everything, and have a psychologist because she "wasn't hungry" at lunch, she knew it was for the better. She knew that good things would happen to her. She never cried about anything, sure she had nightmares, but that happens to everybody once in a while. When she grew up, she graduated from Francis T. Nicholls high school, and then went to the Kansas City business school. She became a travel agent at American Express. In 1984, she married a man named Malcolm Hall and had four boys.

She succeeded. Those are the words people have said over and over again. Success happens when you work hard and actually try. Hard work will get you places. Ruby Bridges is proof. If she didn't try, slacked off, and didn't go to that all white school, imagine how different things would be today. Through difficulty and pain, Ruby marched right towards those school doors, and walked right in, probably not caring what people though. It was a good thing too, her confidence in her state of need. She had the perseverance to go for it. Look at her now.