Ruby Bridges

The brave six-year-old who helped change schools.

Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.

What children learn in Level 34

Ruby Bridges was born in 1954 in Mississippi. When she was little, her family moved to New Orleans, in Louisiana.
Back then, unfair laws in the South kept Black children and white children in separate schools. Keeping people apart because of the color of their skin is called segregation.
Many people worked to change those laws. A court said New Orleans schools had to let all children in.
Ruby passed a hard test, so she could go to William Frantz Elementary, a school that had been for white children only.
On November 14, 1960, six-year-old Ruby walked into her new school. She was the first Black child there.
Some people stood outside and shouted mean things. U.S. marshals walked beside Ruby to keep her safe.
Ruby was brave. She even prayed for the people who shouted at her.
Your turn! Sort them. Who did it: Carver, or Ruby Bridges?
Try it with a grown-up! Ruby was six, just like many first graders. Talk about a time you were brave.

Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social Studies:

SS1H1.a — Identify the contributions made by these figures: Benjamin Franklin (inventor/author/ statesman), Thomas Jefferson (Declaration of Independence), Meriwether Lewis and William Clark with Sacagawea (exploration), Theodore Roosevelt (National Parks and the environment), George Washington Carver (science), and Ruby Bridges (civil rights).
SS1G1.d — Southern U.S. (George Washington Carver and Ruby Bridges)