Escambia County School District - Professional Learning

Michelle White

On November 14, 1960, flanked by four federal marshals, 6-year-old Ruby Bridges crossed the threshold of William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana to become one of the first Black children to attend a desegregated school in the South. That was 60 years ago today.

Born in 1954, the year Brown v. Board of Education legally ended racial segregation in U.S. schools, Ruby was far too young to understand what her arrival on school grounds signified. Angry parents surrounded the building, yelling and throwing things—one woman threatened to poison her—and federal marshals were forced to accompany her all day, every day of the school year.

Ruby’s teacher, Barbara Henry, loved Ruby’s magnetic smile immediately. No other teacher or student would have anything to do with Ruby, so Ruby was her only student—an experience that would bond them for life.

“None of our babies are born knowing anything about disliking one another, disliking someone that looks different,” Ruby said decades later. “It’s taught to them and handed down. So if we can teach them to be racist, we can teach them not to be.”

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Just a reminder, Monday is not a holiday for students. There WILL be school on Monday, October 12.