Ruby Bridges was the first black child to attend at all-white public elementary school in the South.
She's only 63 years old. Only 63 years old!
The Norman Rockwell painting of Ruby Bridges, below, shows her being escorted to school in 1960. What it does not show is that her father lost his job, her sharecropping grandparents were turned off their land, the grocery store the family bought its food would not longer serve them.
On January 8, 2001, Ruby Bridges was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Bill Clinton.
3 comments:
I had no idea. When I think of Rockwell's work, I tend to assume all of the subjects left us long, long ago...probably because so much of the subject matter depicts historical events and Americana of the 20th century. It's remarkable and wonderful Ms. Bridges is still with us--and is relatively young!
I wonder if she ever thought she'd have to revisit the terrible suffering her family endured, and watch as the same issues of racism return and play out among American society? I hope she is able to see this with the same self-possessed grace she had as a child.
Racism hasn't returned. It never went anywhere.
Indeed, my apologies—I misspoke, Noel. However (while it disgusts me beyond measure to write it), I would suggest racism hasn’t enjoyed this anything close to this degree of visible support in American society since the 1960s.
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