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Home • Culture

Civil Rights Icon Ruby Bridges Turned 64!

Ruby Bridges became the first black child to attend an all-white school in the South at the young age of six.
Civil Rights Icon Ruby Bridges Turned 64!
BROOKLYN, NY – NOVEMBER 13: Ruby Bridges speaks onstage at Glamour’s 2017 Women of The Year Awards at Kings Theatre on November 13, 2017 in Brooklyn, New York.
By Paula Rogo · Updated October 23, 2020
Ruby Bridges, the first Black student to attend integrated schools in the south, is celebrating her 64th birthday this weekend. At just the age of six, Bridges walked into an all-white school on November 14, 1960, in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was escorted by four federal marshals into William Frantz Elementary School as hundreds of white residents angrily rallied outside in protest.

At only 6 years of age, Ruby Bridges-Hall stamped her name in history as the first African American to break barriers in one southern state. #FreedomForward pic.twitter.com/PvpOQPCCp2

— NatCivilRightsMuseum (@NCRMuseum) May 14, 2018
The moment was immortalized in a painting by Norman Rockwell.

“The Problem We All Live With"
Artist: Norman Rockwell

This painting depicts a REAL American hero, Ruby Bridges making a history-changing walk integrating William Frantz Public School in New Orleans on November 14, 1960. pic.twitter.com/JUgyi22NbX

— D'Ann Moulton ♥️✌🏻☕️ (@mrsdmoulton) August 13, 2018
Bridges, who was born on September 8, 1954, told ESSENCE in 2009 that she remembers little of that moment in history, though she recalls thinking she was in the middle of a parade. “You have to remember, I was a 6-year-old child,” she said. “Especially in African-American families, you are, for the most part, seen and not heard. Parents never sat you down and tried to explain things like that to you. And then, if you think about it, how much of that could you explained to a 6-year-old without making the situation worse? I was told that I was going to a new school, and that was it.” Many took to Twitter to send Bridges birthday wishes on Saturday.

Happy 64th Birthday to Ruby Bridges who at the age of 6 years old became the first Black child to integrate a white school in the United States. pic.twitter.com/Xwvm10aYpx

— Blk Girl Culture (@blkgirlculture) September 8, 2018

Ruby Bridges, the first Black child to attend an all-white public elementary school in the South was born on this date. She's 64. pic.twitter.com/SGSKDXeRYh

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) September 8, 2018

A Mighty Girl wishes a happy birthday to Ruby Bridges! Bridges famously had to be escorted into school by U.S. Marshals when she desegregated William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans in 1960 https://t.co/3dPz9EKFJF pic.twitter.com/aka75uiojd

— A Mighty Girl (@amightygirl) September 8, 2018
Happy Birthday!
TOPICS:  Norman Rockwell Ruby Bridges