So, it was the 6th of November 960 when Ruby Bridges had her first day at the all-white William Frantz Elementary School. She was just 6 years old and was the first African American student to integrate an elementary school in the south, therefore being the cause of advancing civil rights by joining my school. In 959, Ruby attended a segregated kindergarten in New Orleans, and then a year later the federal court ordered the state to not be segregated anymore. The school district created tests for black children to see whether or not they could attend all-white schools. These entrance exams supposedly were to see if black children were academically capable to study at elementary schools. Ruby was not the only black child to attend though, because five other students passed the tests so they could attend my school.
At the time because I was young, I did not quite understand the cha
llenges that African Americans faced in my area, let alone in the state. Ruby Bridges and her mother were escorted to the school gates by multiple federal marshals on the first day that Ruby started my school. I noticed that as the seasons changed, her mother started to not walk with her to school with the marshals, just ruby and the men on her own. I wondered why it was necessary for men to walk with ruby to the school gates each day, yet I had soon begun to realize it was for Ruby`s protection. Due to her joining the school, Ruby faced blatant racism every day while walking through the gates of the school. Each day I would notice fewer and fewer children in my class coming into school. Every day a classmate of mine would just not turn up. The majority of parents kept their children at home, mine didn`t though so I witnessed many atrocious things happen throughout my school year.