What do you believe in? An equal education for everyone? Well, that’s been something people have been fighting for as long as their were people to fight. Everyday heroes stand up for what they believe in. No matter the cost.
Below is a story shared on www.amightygirl.com. Even though I’m familiar with many desegregation stories from the 50s and 60s, I hadn’t known all of these details.
If you’re only six years of age and can stand up for what you believe is right, you are a hero in my eyes.
Read on about Ruby Bridges.
As a six-year-old, Ruby Bridges famously became the first African American child to desegregate an all-white elementary school in the South. When the first grader walked to William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans on November 14, 1960 surrounded by a team of U.S. Marshals, she was met by a vicious mob shouting and throwing objects at her.
One of the federal marshals, Charles Burks, who served on her escort team, recalls Bridges’ courage in the face of such hatred: “For a little girl six years old going into a strange school with four strange deputy marshals, a place she had never been before, she showed a lot of courage. She never cried. She didn’t whimper. She just marched along like a little soldier. We were all very proud of her.”
She just marched along like a little soldier.
Once Ruby entered the school, she discovered that it was devoid of children because they had all been removed by their parents due to her presence. The only teacher willing to have Ruby as a student was Barbara Henry, who had recently moved from Boston. Ruby was taught by herself for her first year at the school due to the white parents’ refusal to have their children share a classroom with a black child.
Despite daily harassment, which required the federal marshals to continue escorting her to school for months; threats towards her family; and her father’s job loss due to his family’s role in school integration, Ruby persisted in attending school.
The following year, when she returned for second grade, the mobs were gone and more African American students joined her at the school. The pioneering school integration effort was a success due to Ruby Bridges’ inspiring courage, perseverance, and resilience.
I admire people who stand firm on their beliefs. I don’t agree with what they believe? That still doesn’t change my respect for them.
It takes a true hero to inspire other people to persevere and be courageous.
What do you believe in? Will you stand for it? Even if it means standing against a mob?
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Well done that girl! She puts me in mind of another lady, who sat for what she believed in: Rosa Parks.
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