Opinion: What Ruby Bridges taught me about teaching (2024)

Over my 20-year education career, I have shared the story of Ruby Bridges countless times, always emphasizing her bravery. So when I sat down with Bridges herself last month, as part of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day Commemoration Event at Yale, I expected the conversation to be about her bravery.

Instead, we talked about the fight between good vs. evil.

Opinion: What Ruby Bridges taught me about teaching (1)

Of course, we did. Because Bridges herself doesn’t call herself brave, she called herself a child.

She transported us to the mind of the 6-year-old who became the first Black child to attend an all-white integrated public school. On her walk-in, she experienced yelling, slurs, and a massive energy of hatred from white parents protesting integration. Their reasons weren’t clear to her, but she felt how excited and passionate they were; she thought it was a Mardi Gras parade.

What protected me was the innocence of a child,” Bridges said. The narratives of Black History Month and the Civil Rights Movement commend our heroes for climbing into the behemoth of structural racism and pulling down beams or knocking out walls. We absolutely should commend that.

But in the case of Bridges, she was learning to see racism and knocking it down at the same time, giving us an excellent perspective into how we can talk to children today about race. This burgeoning advocate learned what kind of Goliath she was up against while collecting her stones. How she has committed herself to talking down the giant is uniquely suited for children and educators.

Bridges said later that day a white boy repeated a word he heard from his mother — the n word — saying she told him not to play with Bridges. That, she said, was her introduction to racism, through a fellow 6-year-old who had been taught hate based on skin color by his mother. For Bridges, school taught her what racism is, and from her straightforward 6-year-old mind, saw it simply: racism is hate, and hate is evil.

Not until I heard Bridges’ example of how education is passed down did I remember that young children see things simply. They usually do what their parents ask them, like the boy. They feel emotions before they understand the significance of words or colors, like Bridges. Other educators and I should take this innocence as a model to approach these complex conversations plainly, and ask “Why is it like this?”

In my years as a teacher, school administrator, district leadership, as a father of two, and as the Director of Educational Strategy at the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, I’ve long thought about the best way to talk about hate.

I can pass down the history, the content, or the theory and none of it would neutralize the landscape that Black children walk into today, where even the slightest mention of race gets defenses up and drives the possibility for civil conversation down.

Bridges made clear in her story that racism is learned and a major site of that education is at school. If we want to stop teaching our children to engage in hateful behavior, we need to teach them the skills and give them the space to talk about hate in a civil way.

As a human race, dealing with whatever form hate is in, we need to be able to critique information, understand our emotional reactions to it, see what forces in it are pushing us to engage in hateful behavior, and then act! Teaching our children to do this and assess their emotions is essential to creating complex civil conversations in the future that lead to actions.

Gut reactions and strong emotions close our ears, minds, and hearts. But our children come to the world with ears, minds, and hearts open. They want to have conversations, they recognize and wonder at differences. What this Civil Rights hero has particular insight too, that few others do, is that even when children don’t understand race and politics, they know intuitively what good and evil feel like.

The civil rights work continues at this juncture in a child’s education. Let’s give them the tools to sit with differences, teach them that disagreement does not mean it’s a bad conversation, and even painful conversations are worth having.

If Bridges learned in the schoolyard that her skin color was the object of hate, surely playgrounds of the present can be used to teach that difference is the object of love.

We must take this opportunity to teach them to see differences as human beauty, and unlike many adults in this world right now, teach them to see difference not as a threat or invalidation, but as a site of discovery, curiosity, and respect.

William (Billy) Johnson is the Director of Educational Strategy, William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund.

Opinion: What Ruby Bridges taught me about teaching (2024)

FAQs

What was the lesson learned from Ruby Bridges? ›

Learning that you can never judge anyone from the outside was the first lesson of that tumultuous year. A second was that we must all “become brothers and sisters.” “We must absolutely take care of one another. It does take a village, but we have to be a village first.

Why is Ruby Bridges important to learn about? ›

She was the first African American child to desegregate William Frantz Elementary School. At six years old, Ruby's bravery helped pave the way for Civil Rights action in the American South. Ruby was born on September 8, 1954 to Abon and Lucille Bridges in Tylertown, Mississippi. She was the eldest of five children.

What is one important fact about Ruby Bridges? ›

Ruby was one of six students to pass the test and her parents decided to send her to an all-white elementary school to receive a better education. On November 14, 1960, at the age of six, Ruby became the very first African American child to attend the all-white public William Frantz Elementary School.

What was the impact of the Ruby Bridges? ›

Ruby Bridges helped reform education to where it is now. No more white schools or African-American schools, just one school of all the future generations together as one. Later in life Ruby Bridges created a foundation called the Ruby Bridges Foundation.

What is the conclusion paragraph about Ruby Bridges? ›

The Ruby Bridges Foundation was created to support integration, not segregation. It is a reflection of her bravery and fight to end segregation in schools and society. Without Ruby Bridges, education would be different today.

What inspired Ruby Bridges? ›

Bridges was inspired following the murder of her youngest brother, Malcolm Bridges, in a drug-related killing in 1993 — which brought her back to her former elementary school. For a time, Bridges looked after Malcolm's four children, who attended William Frantz School.

Is Ruby Bridges still alive? ›

Ruby Bridges is still alive and is sixty-six years old. She has worked as a civil right activist her whole life. Throughout her life, Bridges has received many honors and awards.

What is the point of the Ruby Bridges Foundation? ›

Mission. The Ruby Bridges Foundation Mission Statement We exist to end racism and all forms of bullying through integration and education. Our Vision We will generate tomorrow's leaders by fostering the compassion, confidence and knowledge required to impact a better world for all.

What special qualities did Ruby Bridges have? ›

She showed unforgettable loving forgiveness and courage when faced with the ugly screaming White mobs who jeered and taunted her every day as she walked into William Frantz Elementary School. Federal marshals had to escort Ruby to school, but she never quit or turned back.

Did Ruby Bridges make friends at school? ›

Some parents refused to let their children go to the integrated school. The children who did attend were separated from her classroom. But Ruby made friends.

Who was Ruby Bridges' kindergarten teacher? ›

Barbara Henry, a young teacher who had recently moved to New Orleans from Boston, was the only member of staff willing to teach Ruby as part of an integrated class. However, in protest against Ruby's presence, all but three white families removed their children from the school.

What is Ruby bridge education? ›

After graduating from a desegregated high school, she worked as a travel agent for 15 years and later became a full-time parent. She is now chair of the Ruby Bridges Foundation, which she formed in 1999 to promote "the values of tolerance, respect, and appreciation of all differences".

What obstacles did Ruby Bridges overcome? ›

When her parents allowed her to enroll, Bridges faced a storm of racial hatred from fellow students, their parents, and even most of the teachers at the school. She had to have US marshals escort her to school each day for a year.

Did Ruby Bridges go to school alone? ›

Bridges says she sees her 6-year-old self enduring a lonely and confusing year in the children's letters. After walking past mobs of protesters, Bridges attended classes alone — and did so for the full year. Some white families permanently withdrew their children from the school because Bridges was a student there.

What is the theme of the book Ruby Bridges? ›

The book's theme plays off the author's name: “Ruby” is a precious stone, and “Bridges” are meant to bring people together. Told with a touch of humor from the vantage point of a first-grader, the book captures the wonder of Bridges' experience — rather than just the scariness of that raucous first day at the school.

What did Ruby Bridges say? ›

You cannot look at a person and tell whether they're good or bad. We have tolerance, respect, and equality in our written laws but not in the hearts of some of our people.

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