Ruby Bridges and the Civil Rights Movement - Term Paper Example

Through my Eyes Order No. 216399 No: of pages: 8 Premium 6530 “Each and every one of us is born with a clean heart. Our babies know nothing about hate or racism. But soon they begin to learn – and only from us. We keep racism alive. We pass it on to our children. We owe it to our children to help them keep their clean start.” Ruby Bridges . We pass it on to We owe t to our children to help m keep”-Ruby Bridges “Through my Eyes” is an autobiography of Ruby Bridges herself portraying a touching story of a small child aged 6 years and caught up in the turmoil of racial discrimination and segregation of the Blacks that she had witnessed and experienced during and after the Civil Rights Movement. This particular chapter in her life was one that was most important. She was an African American kid who went through a lot of trials and tribulations having being swirled around in the controversy of a political storm and trying her best to essentially cope in a white world. African American blacks were used as slaves to work on farms and in houses. They did not enjoy any rights and were treated worse than animals. They were forbidden to enter schools, restaurants, theatres or hotels of the whites because racial discrimination and segregation was rampant at that time. The later part of the 18th century was a time of great political upheaval in the United States. Thomas Jefferson had written a manifesto for human rights and putting an end to slave trade. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves of the Southern states and granted voting rights to the black males. After the Union gained victory over the Confederacy, the period of Reconstruction followed which was from 1865 to 1877. This was the period during which action was taken to get equal rights of the African American Blacks. One such reform was equal right to education for black children. The whites did not favor any of these reforms. In fact they were very angry and they protested. It was against this violent backdrop that Ruby Bridges, a very small child of six years became the centre point or so to say the eye of the storm. Ruby Bridges was born on 8th September, 1954 in Tylertown, where she lived with her family until the age of four years. When Ruby started school in the kindergarten, she studied at the Johnson Lockett Elementary School. It was a segregated school to which all the black children from Ruby’s block went. Though it was a long way to school, Ruby enjoyed going there, as she had lots of children for company. Ruby was too tiny to know that a Federal Court in New Orleans was in the process of forcing two white public schools to admit black pupils. This plan was implemented on a very small scale by integrating only the first grade and thereafter every year, the first grade would automatically be integrated. In lieu of this, all the black kindergarten children were asked to go through a test. This test was conducted to see which children were suitable to be absorbed into white schools. So Ruby too accompanied by her mother went on a long bus journey to the school board building and took the test along with approximately 100 other black children. Needless to say, the test given was extremely difficult for the children and most of them had failed the test. If in case all the black children did not fair well and had failed, then the court would have had to wait a while longer to implement their strategy. During the summertime, many of the NAACP people visited Ruby’s home and informed her parents that she was one among the lucky few to have passed the school board tests and she was free to join one of the white schools called William Frantz Public School which was nearer to her home. The people from the NAACP made quite a few promises and said that studying in William Frantz Public School would help not only her own brothers and sisters but also other black children looking for a better future. Ruby’s mother Lucille somehow convinced the father saying that it was a great opportunity for Ruby to get the best education and it was really worth taking the risk. So in 1960, in November Ruby was the first African American kid who was responsible to put an end to segregation in a white elementary school named “The William Frantz Elementary School” in New Orleans. Though the order was given yet the state capital’s lawmakers slowed down the pace of integration by sending Ruby back to her old school for some more time. There was a continuous struggle between the state legislature and the Federal Court and finally they initiated about twenty – eight new laws against anti – segregation. Judge J. Skelly Wright, who was the Federal District Court judge, was unwavering in his commitment of equal opportunities for all Americans and was dedicated to keeping the laws that were passed. Judge Skelly knew that trouble was brewing and may prove harmful, so he asked the Federal Marshals to accompany all the first graders to school. Even though school was only a few blocks away from her home, Ruby was escorted by four white Marshals in a car to school because angry and violent white segregation crowds had gathered near the gate of the school and were shouting and creating problems by throwing things at them. Ruby and her mother were surrounded by the Marshals and escorted to the classroom and was admitted into the first grade. The marshals stayed with them the whole day. Ruby soon found that she was the only pupil in her class, because the parents of the white children protested by being very upset and shouting at people in the office- room and removing their kids from the school. Throughout the day Ruby and her mother waited quietly without exchanging a word with anyone one and witnessed all the chaos that took place in the school with mobs shouting and reporters trying to catch a juicy story. The protesters wanted to make sure that the parents of white children boycotted the school by not allowing their children to attend. So while Ruby and her mother sat quietly, they saw the white parents marching and stomping through the halls and taking their children from the classrooms and going back home. When the school gave over at 3p.m it was very difficult pushing through the protesting crowds towards the Marshals car. Large groups of boys from the High School had joined the protesters and carried hurtful signs and slogans while shouting horrible things. The also sang hymns with new lyrics but used the tunes of old hymns. But the most frightening thing that happened was seeing a black doll placed inside a coffin. It was actually only the next day that Ruby met her teacher Mrs. Barbara Henry and started her regular classes. She was the one person who made Ruby feel welcome and special in the school. The teacher was from Boston and had no idea that the schools were going to be integrated that day. Everyday Ruby would enter an empty class but the teacher was always there to greet her and teach her all her lessons. Barbara showed exemplary courage by putting up a brave front in the face of white extremists. She also braved a racist principle and the insults of her colleagues. Ruby’s family was God fearing and always had God as the centre. They were regular church – goers and prayed on a daily basis. She recalls how her mother always told her that if she was afraid, she should say her prayers. She also told her that she could pray to God anytime she wanted and anywhere she wanted because he was always there to listen to her. Ruby believed in what her mother told her and where ever she faced a difficult situation, even when she had grown up, she always prayed to God. When she was in a dilemma as to which direction she should take, she got down on her knees and prayed to God to show her what he wanted her to do and she always got her answers from him. She is a religious person and spreads the word to other kids telling them that “every child is a unique human being fashioned by God.” Ruby’s role in the Civil Rights Movement was one of bravery and steadfastness. She became a Civil Rights icon because she had been instrumental in putting an end to discrimination and segregation between the whites and the blacks thus ensuring a better life for black children. Though the bitterness of those painful and traumatic years, lingered in her mind, yet she knew in her heart that she had to do something more about it. When she grew up she did not go to college but had to work so as to support her children; so she took up a job in a travel agency. Later she left that job and was a volunteer at the William Frantz School. She collaborated with Harvard University psychologist Robert Cole and published the book – “The Story of Ruby Bridges”. This book was for children encouraging them not to favor racism, by telling them what she had experienced when she was a target for racism. She goes around to different schools lecturing about racism and how it affects people. The Ruby Bridges Foundation that she had established is doing great service to help kids around the world and still continues to fight against discrimination and segregation. In a review taken from “The Horn Book Magazine”, (B.C, 2000) describes Ruby saying, that she walked with “her back as stiff as her starched white dress, remains one of the most dramatic images of the civil rights era.” The author goes on to say that though John Steinbeck had written about her in his “Travel’s with Charley,” and Norman Rockwell painted her and Robert Coles worked with her, yet Ruby did not need any intermediaries to “cloud the lens of her story” (B.C, 2000) He said that Ruby Bridges own writing was much more powerful than anyone else’s. Though Ruby had evolved into a good writer she does not let the adult in her to disturb all the finer facts as she recalled the memories of her distant and dark childhood. In yet another review on the book “Through my Eyes”, Margo Lundei (2001) speaks on the courage of a six year old who had been instrumental in integrating her own school -William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans which created history on November 14th, 1960. In emphasizing Ruby’s courage, she quotes the closing lines of her book which says- “I now know that experience comes to us for a purpose, and if we follow the guidance of the spirit within us, we will probably find that the purpose is a good one." (Ruby Bridges) In another review in the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (January 2000) written by Stevenson, Deborah she states that "[T]his is a compelling look at history as a living thing, focusing on one memorable individual unknowingly caught momentarily in the historical spotlight." Ruby recalls the pain of discrimination she experienced as a small kid of six years and from the day she entered her first grade in an all white elementary school, she became a pioneer of school integration. Presently, Ruby is married and lives in New Orleans, Louisiana with her husband and sons where she works as a lecturer and continues to reach out to parents by telling her story and stressing on moral responsibility. She encourages them to understand that education has no limitations and is not bound by the color of their skin, social, political or economic status. In 1999 Ruby Bridges established a foundation which has ten active members called the Ruby Bridges foundation. This foundation encourages high values of tolerance, respect for one another and appreciation of any kind of differences. They also believe that such an attitude would help to put an end to religious prejudice and racism. The primary mission of this foundation is to inspire society through the education of children. References: Ruby Bridges – African American World. www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/history/spotlight_september.html The Ruby Bridges Foundation www.rubybridges.org Through my Eyes www.content.scholastic.com/browse/collateral.jsp “Through my Eyes” (Reviews) www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-59021016.html Forty Years Later, Ruby Bridges Still Fighting Racism in Schools. www.archives.cnn.com/2000/US/11/14/ruby.bridges.ap Read More