Ruby Bridges — cat watson

Sunday, November 14, 2020

60 years ago today, 6 year old Ruby Bridges walked to elementary school in New Orleans, escorted by US Marshals for her protection, while white parents and students screamed at her and refused to participate because of her presence. All but one teacher refused to teach her. She was one of only six students that had passed a test given to Black students in order to provide a metric of who to allow in to the all white schools, the test was administered in the hopes that it would continue to keep Black students out (the same tactics that were used to keep Black people from voting.) For perspective, Brown v. Board of Education had been decided in 1954, before Ruby was even born. But it took some Southern states 6 years to finally be forced by Federal pressure into desegregating their schools, which, obviously, was done begrudgingly, to put it ridiculously mildly.

Ruby's family suffered for this act of resistance--her father lost his job, their local grocery store refused to serve them, and her grandparents were forced out of the farm where they had been sharecroppers. Ruby's parents also later separated. Ruby was only allowed to eat lunch that she brought from her home because there was a woman who daily threatened to poison her. The effects of racism are real and tangible, they weather the body and do damage at a cellular level.

I shared the pictures of the protesting parents first because they are uncomfortable to look at and reckon with. It's far more digestible to take in the picture of little Ruby Bridges simply walking to school, but when we see what she was met with, day after day, we cannot escape the absolute ugliness of our history. The giddy parents with a Black baby doll in a coffin. The boy with a sign that reads "all I want for Christmas is a clean white school."

Can you imagine sending your first grader to school in such conditions? It is shameful that a mother was forced to make that decision, and even more so that a 6 year old was put in a position to carry such a burden. Yet Lucille Bridges, Ruby's mother, who died just four days ago, knew that it was an essential act of defiance--it was necessary trouble!--not only for her own daughter's sake and future, but for the greater good of society. That sacrifice, which should never have been placed on Ruby, a baby, and her family in the first place, cannot be understated.

Black women, we see you.

Speaking as a 34 year old woman today, these parents, they are our grandparents. These students, our parents.