Ruby Bridges

Ruby Bridges made her mark and shook up the entire world at the age of six by being the first African American to go to an all white school in 1960 desegregating education. Later she used her platform to create the Ruby Bridges Foundation which is still fighting for racial injustice today. This incredible girl deserves her spot on the Undefeated 44 because she helped end segregation in education, through being brave, creating a foundation, and always persevering.

Ruby Bridges has rightfully earned a spot on the Undefeated 44 because of how brave and determined she was at such a young age. For example, on her first day of school she, “Spent her first day in the principal’s office due to the chaos created as angry white parents pulled their children from school. Ardent segregationists withdrew their children permanently” (Michals). This shows how people were angry that Ruby Bridges attended an all white school. She was being hated on for attending this school by the teachers, students, parents, and people that were not even connected to the school. Ruby also dealt with lots of racial slurs, angry crowds, and only one teacher who was willing to teach her. Despite this, Ruby never missed a day of school (Ruby). This evidence shows really how brave she was at such a young age. Not missing a day of school while being verbally abused and mistreated for no just reason proves to everyone that she really was determined to make a difference, and proves to people that anyone should be able to attend all schools no matter what the color of their skin is. Ruby also had to see people holding signs and screaming at her as she walked throughout the school. Some of these signs said things like, “‘All I want for Christmas is a clean white school’ and walking past crowds of people holding up things like ‘a miniature coffin with a black doll in it’” (Rose). Despite all of the horrible things that happened to Ruby she kept on persevering and going to school no matter what. Her bravery shows how she deserved to go to the school, despite the amount of hate she received.

Going to the school not only caused issues and chaos for Ruby, but also her family. Her family started suffering just because of Ruby’s presence in the school. Some people supported her and honored her bravery, while others didn’t. Her presence at school affected her family’s daily life. Her mom struggled to find a job, and her father was fired for his job, when people found out their daughter went to school (Dewey). Ruby’s parents were suffering for sending Ruby to the school. However, it shows Ruby’s perseverance, and how she continued to go to the school even with all the hate her and her family were receiving. Due to Ruby going to school, “The community was torn. Some families supported her bravery. Some northerners sent money to aid her family. Others protested. The entire family suffered for their bravery” (“Ruby”). The entire community was torn over her presence at the school. People hated the fact that an African American was attending an all white school, especially in the south, where racism was the heaviest. She pushed through even if she did not have support. When, “Her parents eventually separated. ‘I remember writing a letter to Santa Claus and asking him to give my father’s job back, and that he didn’t have a job because I was going to the school’” (Rose). It shows Ruby’s family life got harder after Ruby started going to school. Even though life was hard her family always supported her. Through this support, she always took advantage of her opportunities and used her position to help others.

Finally, Ruby Bridges never stopped supporting educational racial injustice throughout her whole lifetime and beyond by creating the Ruby Bridges Foundation, getting books published about her journey, and traveling around the country to advocate the importance of education and integration to students. Later in her life, Ruby wrote about her past experiences in two books and received the Carter G. Woodson Book Award (Michals). Ruby writing about her story proves how she took her past challenges  and is making something out of it and raising awareness about things like this so they never happen again. Her writing these books assures that her story stays spreading and changing the world, affecting people everyday. She then, “...established The Ruby Bridges Foundation to promote tolerance and create change through education” (Michals). This shows why she created the foundation and all of the difference it actually makes in people's lives today. If it weren't for Ruby taking the first step and going to the school, racial education segregation might still be a thing today. Next, to keep using her voice and helping fight racial segregation, “She continued touring schools across the country telling her story and promoting cultural understanding” (Rose). By touring schools she continued to teach kids all over the world her story and raise awareness about racial segregation. She is using her story and voice to stand up for future and past generations.

Ruby Bridges helped end education segregation, through being brave, helping others, and persevering, which should all earn her a spot on the Undefeated 44 list. She went through many changes in her young life like her and her family being hated, to receiving rewards and making the Ruby Bridges Foundation official. Today, we should recognize that people weren’t always equal, and see the changes that were made over time.