Ruby Bridges has always been a civil rights advocate, with her experience as the first Black child to enter an all-white school in the South making her a household name. Though her experience in school was harrowing due to blatant racism and the targeting of her family, Bridges never missed a day of school. Ruby Bridges was born on September 8, , to Abon and Lucille Bridges, who had married the previous year and lived in Tylertown, Mississippi.
Abon worked as a mechanic and was a veteran of the Korean War, while Lucille was employed in domestic work Rose, When Ruby was two years old, the family relocated to New Orleans, Louisiana, seeking better job opportunities and higher-quality education for their children Smith, Their move coincided with a pivotal moment in American education as was the same year the U.
Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas , which declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. This decision required all schools to desegregate, providing Black students with the opportunity to attend what were once all-white institutions.
Segregation, both by law and by custom, started soon after the abolition of slavery in the 19th century.
Though various amendments to the Constitution had been passed to provide African Americans with rights to citizenship and the right to vote, other legal decisions were made that worked to nullify these amendments. Plessy v. Ferguson , which held that separate but equal facilities did not violate the U. The Brown v. Board ruling in overturned these separations in the realm of education. Even with this ruling, Louisiana struggled to enact integration. They became aware of Ruby when they discovered that she was one of six children who passed the required entrance exams.
