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FILE -
U.S.
Deputy
Marshals
escort
6-year-old
Ruby
Bridges
from
William
Frantz
Elementary
School
in New
Orleans,
in this
file
photo
from
November
14,
1960.
Bridges
(L) has
authored
a
picture
book to
explain
that
long-ago
experience
to the
youngest
readers.
(AP
Photo/File)
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Black
woman
who
integrated
Southern
school
writes
kid's
book
By JAY
REEVES
apnews.com
Ruby
Bridges
was a
6-year-old
first-grader
when she
walked
past
jeering
crowds
of white
people
to
become
one of
the
first
Black
students
at
racially
segregated
schools
in New
Orleans
more
than six
decades
ago.
Now,
with
teaching
about
race in
America
more
complicated
than
it’s
ever
been,
she’s
authored
a
picture
book
about
her
experience
for the
youngest
of
readers.
Bridges,
along
with
three
other
Black
students
at a
different
school,
were the
first to
integrate
what had
been
all-white
schools
in New
Orleans
in 1960.
“I Am
Ruby
Bridges,”
featuring
illustrations
by
Nikkolas
Smith,
goes on
sale
Tuesday.
Published
by
Orchard
Books,
an
imprint
of
Scholastic
Inc.,
it’s
aimed at
readers
as young
as 4.
Complete
with a
glossary
that
includes
the
words
“Supreme
Court”
and
“law,”
the book
is an
uplifting
story
about
opportunities
and kids
being
able to
make a
difference,
Bridges
said in
an
interview
with The
Associated
Press.
“It’s a
true
reflection
of what
happened
through
my own
eyes,”
she
said.
But
books by
or about
Bridges
have
been
challenged
by
conservatives
in
several
school
districts
amid
complaints
over
race-related
teaching.
Bridges
said she
hopes
the new
book
winds up
in
elementary
school
libraries.
“I’ve
been
very,
very
fortunate
because
of the
way I
tell my
story
that my
babies
come in
all
shapes
and
colors,
and my
books
are
bestsellers,
and
maybe
banned
in
schools,”
she
said.
“But I
think
parents
really
want to
get past
our
racial
differences.
They’re
going to
seek out
those
books.”
Bridges
was born
in 1954,
the same
year the
U.S.
Supreme
Court
ruled
that
racial
segregation
of
public
schools
was
unconstitutional.
Southern
school
districts,
including
New
Orleans,
continued
resisting
integration
for
years.
But on
Nov. 14,
1960,
Bridges
—
carrying
a plaid
book
satchel
and
wearing
a white
sweater
— was
escorted
by four
federal
marshals
past a
taunting
white
crowd
into
segregated
William
Frantz
Elementary
School.
The
scene
was made
famous
in the
Norman
Rockwell
painting
“The
Problem
We All
Live
With,”
which
hung in
the
White
House
near the
Oval
Office
during
the
tenure
of
former
President
Barack
Obama.
The
book’s
theme
plays
off the
author’s
name:
“Ruby”
is a
precious
stone,
and
“Bridges”
are
meant to
bring
people
together.
Told
with a
touch of
humor
from the
vantage
point of
a
first-grader,
the book
captures
the
wonder
of
Bridges’
experience
— rather
than
just the
scariness
of that
raucous
first
day at
the
school.
“It
really
looks
like
Mardi
Gras to
me, but
they
aren’t
throwing
any
beads.
What’s
Mardi
Gras
without
beads?”
Bridges
writes.
The only
parade
that day
was out
of the
school.
White
parents
immediately
began
withdrawing
their
children,
so
Bridges
spent
the
entire
year by
herself
with
white
teacher
Barbara
Henry,
who is
still
alive
and a
“very
best
friend,”
Bridges
said.
Henry’s
acceptance
and
kindness
during a
fraught
time
taught
her an
important
lesson,
she
said.
“That
shaped
me into
a person
that is
not
prejudiced
at all.
And I
feel
like
that
little
girl is
still
inside
of me,
and
that’s
it’s my
calling
to make
sure
kids
understand
that you
can’t
look at
someone
and
judge
them,”
Bridges
said.
Elsewhere
in New
Orleans
on the
same day
Bridges
went to
school,
Gail
Etienne,
Leona
Tate and
Tessie
Prevost
entered
the
previously
all-white
McDonogh
No. 19
elementary
school.
Last
year,
New
Orleans
held a
weekend
of
events
to
remember
Bridges
and
other
women.
Bridges,
a
Mississippi
native,
still
lives in
metro
New
Orleans
and has
authored
or
co-authored
five
books.
Two
years
she
published
“This Is
Your
Time,”
which is
intended
for
older
children
than her
new
book.
___
Reeves
is a
member
of AP’s
Race and
Ethnicity
Team.
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