Ruby Bridges: The Way African Americans Are Treated

Even at such a young age, Ruby Bridges helped transform the way that African Americans are treated. Ruby Bridges was born on September 8, 1954, in Tylertown Mississippi. She lived on a farm that her grandparents had sharecropped. Her grandparents had lived on this sharecropped land for about 25 years. Sharecropping is when someone allows someone to live on their land in return for some of the crops they harvested.Ruby lived on this land until she was around 4 years old, this is when she and her parents moved to New Orleans in hopes of a better life. She moved to New Orleans when she was 4 years old. In New Orleans, Ruby went to an all-black segregated school, which is a school that only allows one specific race to attend. At this school, only

Lucille, her mother, wanted to give Ruby the best education possible, even if that comes with many difficulties.In order to attend an all-white school as an African American, the child had to pass a test. This test was meant to be especially difficult for the students to ensure that New Orleans would stay segregated. If the students passed they would be allowed to go to school. Ruby´s father, Abon, did not want Ruby to take the test because he thought that if she were to pass, it would cause a lot of trouble at school, and everywhere else. But, Lucille, her mom thought that going to an all-white school would Ruby a lot more opportunities, and she would get a better education at a white school, than a black school. Soon, Lucille convinced Abon to let Ruby take the test. Ruby went to a school that was about 2 miles away from her home, even though there was a white school that was less than 2 blocks away from her. If she passed the test, she would go to the white school. William Frantz elementary school. In 1960, Ruby´s parents received a letter saying that she was one of only six African American students that passed the test. If she went to school, she would be the first African American to go to this school, and she would be the first African American student to ever go to a white school in the south.When the first day of school came around, Ruby was still going to her old school. The

Abon, Ruby's dad, lost his job, Her grandparents were sent off the land that they sharecropped. Also, the family was banned from the grocery store that the family always shopped at.As time went on, people began to accept the family, and even help them out when they needed it. Amongst the tragedies the family has faced, many people, white and black, began to help them. Soon, the parents of the white students began to allow their kids to go back to school. There was also less violence and protest at the school. A few years later, One of her escorts, Charles Burks said that ruby has so much courage for what was happening, She never cried during the whole experience. He says ¨She just marched along like a little soldier.¨ One of the neighbors offered Abon a job, and others offered to babysit their four children. They also watched over the house, and walked behind the federal marshals when Ruby was being escorted.Even though Ruby and her family were getting so much help, Ruby was beginning to become stressed. She wanted to be with the other students while they were eating lunch, instead she sat alone in Mrs. Henry´s class. Ruby stopped eating the