Saturday, February 25, 2012

Ruby Bridges !!

Hey, Anushka here... wanted to talk a little bit about black history month.




  Ruby Bridges is my person of the month. She was the first African American child to go to a all-white school.

Ruby Bridges was born on September 8, 1954 in Tylertown, Mississippi. After a year, she moved to New Orleans, Louisiana with her parents. Her mother wanted her to have a better education. So, instead of going to an African American school she sent her to a all-white school. The reason her mother wanted to do this was because her life was hard and she did not want Ruby's to be hard too. Ruby’s mom had to work hard even when she was pregnant. The day before Ruby was born, her mom had to carry ninety pounds of cotton on her back. She knew that if her child went to William Frantz School, Ruby would have a better life.



 
Some white people threatened to poison Ruby and hurt her if she went to their school. Her dad even lost his job. When Ruby started first grade, U.S. marshals took her to and from school and protected her from the angry white people. Some adults took their children to school but most others did not. Ruby saw some people dragging their white kids out of the classrooms because they didn’t want their kids going to the same school as a black kid. Many of the white parents and their kids were outside the school protesting. They were yelling and holding signs.







For the rest of the year, she was the only one in her class and she was taught on a whole different floor from all the other kids. The principal and many teachers also didn’t think Ruby should be taught with the white children. At first this didn’t bother Ruby, but after a while she wondered why she couldn’t be with the other children.

After many years, Ruby graduated and became a travel agent. Her story helped make it easier for other blacks to go to white schools, get a better education, and help improve relations between blacks and whites. She didn’t think it was much of an accomplishment until years later.

After her brother was killed in a drug-related shooting, she began to realize what she did in 1960 was very important for blacks. She then began to help other troubled black kids. Ruby started volunteer work at the William Frantz School. She helped strengthen the school by developing the Ruby Bridges Foundation. She travels to schools to explain the importance of reading, power of education, and integration of races. On January 8, 2001, Bridges was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Bill Clinton.




 
Ruby Bridges is a great part of our history. I think her mom did the right thing of sending her to a all white school for a better eduation.  Ruby Bridges and her mom were very brave.


 
Hope you find this story inspiring!


 


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This Monday my class went on a field trip to the Atlanta History Museum.
So, I will add on to this blog and write about what I learned and what I liked.


What I learned?

I learned how harsh it was in the war. In the war if you get shot in the arm the have to cut it off and the doctor does not even clean the tools after each person. GROSS...

I also learned that in the war since people die you have to smell that every where you go.

They also said that they had to hide in these trenches, they had to carry a lot of things.

When they used the rest room they had to do it in a hole. THAT IS TERRIBLE!!

If they were fighting near your house they could fire at your house. I learned that they had to stay away from home for 3 years :(


What I liked?

I liked the game we played about war. In the game, we went to different stations and we made choices or had luck. If our choices were good we received morale points. If the choices were bad, we lost points.

Hope you liked it.

-Anushka
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