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Ruby Bridges
Civil rights icon & first Black child to desegregate a white elementary school in the South
At six years old she walked past a screaming mob, escorted by federal marshals, and integrated an all-white New Orleans school — an act of courage no child should have needed.
The rise
Born in Mississippi and raised in New Orleans, Ruby Bridges was selected to be one of six Black children to integrate the city's schools. On 14 November 1960, escorted by four deputy U.S. marshals, she walked into William Frantz Elementary School. White parents withdrew their children, and she spent the entire year taught alone by Barbara Henry — the only teacher willing to take her.