Ruby Bridges’ School Once A Symbol Of Desegregation, Now Reflects Another Battle Engulfing Public Education
On Nov. 14, 1960, after a long summer and autumn of volleys between the Louisiana Legislature and the federal courts, Ruby Bridges, a 6-year-old Black girl, was allowed to enroll in an all-white school. Accompanied by federal marshals, Bridges entered William Frantz Public School – a small neighborhood school in New Orleans’ Upper Ninth Ward.
If that building’s walls could talk, they certainly would tell the well-known story of its desegregation. But those same walls could tell another story, too. That story is about continued racism as well as efforts to dismantle and privatize public education in America over the past six decades.
As scholars of education, we combed through multiple archives to uncover this story.
A civil rights landmark
News outlets covering the Ruby Bridges story pub...