Ruby Bridges Stands Tall
This week, our children’s picture book celebration continues with Ruby Bridges and her courageous story from 1960 to present time shared through many books.
Due to repeated threats from large angry crowds when Ruby Bridges integrated the New Orleans “whites only” school system in 1960, federal marshals accompanied her to and from the William Frantz Elementary School.
There were no angry crowds in the “border state” my parents had moved to during the Great Migration. But because of angry letters and phone calls, they had called on family friend “Miss Mamie” to walk my sister and me to Ulysses S. Grant School to integrate the 1st and 2nd grades.
Ruby Bridges has always been my hero. When I was a little girl, my parents taped the Look Magazine photo of the Norman Rockwell painting on our Missouri refrigerator.
Birthday: September 8, 1954 Birthplace: Tylerton, Mississippi Birth name: Ruby Nell Bridges Current name: Ruby Nell Bridges Hall
Books: tap an image above to enlarge.
Dear Ruby, Hear Our Hearts by Ruby Bridges, illustrated by John Jay Cabuay (Orchard Books, 2024).
The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles, illustrated by George Ford (Scholastic, 2010).
Ruby Bridges Goes to School: My True Story by Ruby Bridges (Scholastic, 2009).
Ruby Bridges: A Talk with My Teacher by Ruby Bridges, illustrated by Trudy Tran (Orchard Books, 2025).
Ruby Bridges with President Barack Obama viewing Rockwell painting in White House, Official White House photo, 2015.
The Story of Ruby Bridges: An Inspiring Biography For Young Readers, by Arlisha Norwoodas Smith, PhD. (Callisto Kids, 2021).
Quotes From Others:
“Nothing can be more moving than watching a small black child climbing the steps to her elementary school that historically and legally did not welcome her presence. Ruby Bridges had been called by her country to perform an act of profound bravery to become the Black child in an all-white school.“ —A Letter From Harry Belafonte (inside cover).
Ruby Bridges Quotes:
“I now know that experience comes to us for a purpose, and if we follow the guidance of the spirit within us, we will probably find that the purpose is a good one.”
“The greatest lesson I learned that year in Mrs. Henry’s class was the lesson Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to teach us all: Never judge people by the color of their skin. God makes each of us unique in ways that go much deeper.”
“To the young peacemakers of America…Sixty years ago, in 1960, my life changed forever. Although I was not aware of it, our nation was changing too. What I remember about that time, through my six-year-old eyes, is that there was extreme unrest, much like we see today.”
My Personal Message to Ruby Bridges:
Thank you for reminding me to stand tall through the decades. And yes, passing your story down to others remains on my permanent to-do list.
We must never forget.
Thank you for reading this week’s Great Migration Library—Donna
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Sources:
Wisdom From A Trailblazer: Ruby Bridges Talks Racism In Education, (NPR interview, December 1, 2010).
Link to Ruby Bridges Website
Link to Ruby Bridges Foundation
Link to: Stephen Colbert_Barbara Henry, Ruby Bridges teacher
More Books:
Let’s Read About Ruby Bridges by Ruby Bridges and Grace Maccarone, , Illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu (Scholastic, 2003).
Ruby Bridges Takes Her Seat: Courageous Kid of the Civil Rights Movement by Myra Faye Turner, illustrated by Dante Ginevra (Capstone, 2022).
I Am Ruby Bridges: How one six-year-old girl’s march to school changed the world by Ruby Bridges, illustrated by Nikkolas Smith (Orchard Books, 2022).
Ruby Bridges: This is Your Time by Ruby Bridges (Random House Children’s, 2020).
Ruby Bridges: Get to Know the Girl Who Took a Stand for Education by M. Michelle Derosier (Capstone Press, 2019).
Please join in my continued search for information regarding From the Plantation to the Doctor’s Office by Dr. H. Roger Williams, published in the mid-1920s. Contact this great-granddaughter with any tips (from libraries, old media, elders and more).