American civil rights activist Ruby Bridges, who became a symbol of the movement when she integrated an all-white elementary school as a young girl in the early 1960s, spoke about the continued fight for educational justice during Yale’s annual commemoration of the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 24.
During the conversation, held in Woolsey Hall, Bridges was joined by William Johnson, an educator, strategist, and director of the Connecticut-based William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, and Yale College senior Stephanie Owusu.
Bridges, an activist and author, was 6 years old when, in November 1960, flanked by federal marshals, she entered William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, the first student to integrate an elementary school in the U.S. South. (The occasion was immortalized in Norman Rockwell’s painting “The Problem We All Live With.”)
Dr. King’s call for a more just society was heard and heeded by many, including a certain six-year-old girl and her parents in the state of Louisiana.
The repercussions of that moment would reverberate across the country in the form of advances made by people of color “who followed in her footsteps,” Yale President Peter Salovey said during this week’s event.
“Yes, society has surely seen extraordinary progress in the decades since Ruby changed hearts and history,” Salovey added. “But the reality of that progress should not allow us to become so well adjusted that we desist from the hard work that remains, including on college campuses, to expand equity in and access to education.”
As an adult, Bridges established the Ruby Bridges Foundation to provide leadership training programs that inspire youth and community leaders to embrace and value the richness of diversity. She is also the author of the books “Through My Eyes,” “This Is Your Time,” “I Am Ruby Bridges,” and “Dear Ruby, Hear Our Hearts.”
The Woolsey Hall commemoration was part of a series of events held on the Yale campus and across New Haven this month to honor and reflect on the legacy of the late civil rights leader.
