'I believe that if we are to get past our racial differences, it's... going to come from our young people,' says the icon, who now works with kids.
Ruby Bridges is one of USA TODAY's Women of the Century. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, we've assembled a list of 100 women who've made a substantial impact on our country or our lives over the past 100 years. Read about them all on Aug. 14.
They could see the scene below from the window. Screaming protesters. Signs that said,"We don't want to integrate." High school boys singing a new chorus to"Battle Hymn of the Republic": "Glory, glory, segregation, the South will rise again."The next day, the crowds gathered again. One woman screamed at Bridges,"I'm going to poison you." Inside the school, she met her teacher, Barbara Henry, a white woman, in an empty classroom.
Six-year-old Ruby Bridges became a civil rights icon when she walked by angry white mobs as part of desegregating public schools in Louisiana in 1960.Federal marshals came to the house and knocked on the door. I remember seeing four very tall white men and not really understanding why they were there. They explained to my parents that "we were sent by the president of the United States, and we are here to escort you and your daughter to school today.
People often asked me,"Were you afraid?" And I wasn't afraid because I thought that I was actually seeing something different. Once I got inside of the school, parents – white parents – refused to allow their children to go to school with me. So they rushed in and they took out their children. Over 500 kids walked out of school that day, and it was because I was there.
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