‘Ruby Bridges Goes to School: My True Story’

In 1960, Ruby Bridges fought bravely for the right to learn. Now, 64 years later, students fight for the right to learn about her.

In school districts all over the country, this is not an exaggeration but a response to a genuine attempt to erase an important moment from America’s history. Books about Ruby Bridges’s story have been banned or challenged in Pennsylvania, Texas, Iowa and Tennessee.

Could Washington ever be a state on that list?

I remember sitting in Mrs. Sangster’s first-grade class in Colorado, listening to her read us a story about the first-ever African American child to go to a previously segregated school. She was a little girl exactly my age and I couldn’t imagine doing the things she had the strength to do. She was the most courageous person I had ever heard of, and I became obsessed with her story.

Ruby was only 6 years old when she was the first African American child to attend William Frantz Elementary in New Orleans, an all-white school, at a time when blatant racism, discrimination and abuse toward people of color were considered socially acceptable.

Ruby faced not only persecution because of the color of her skin every day she went to school, but also had to deal with violence towards her anytime she was in public. She couldn’t even walk into the school without people throwing things at her.

Parents kept their children home, not wanting their kids to be in the vicinity of a person of color. At one point she was greeted at the school by a woman who had put a black doll in a wooden coffin on display. Regardless of everything happening to both Ruby and her family, she persevered and went to school every single day.

I spent months talking about Ruby to anyone who would listen. I was only 6 years old, but I was motivated by her fearlessness and inspired by her spirit.

I have always carried her story with me and kept it near my heart. While I think of her often, I rarely hear her spoken of. However, on Aug. 20, at a Peninsula School Board meeting, I heard her name mentioned during public comments and my ears instantly perked up.

It was from a woman objecting to young schoolchildren learning about Ruby. She criticized the new PSD Wit and Wisdom reading program, saying “The curriculum emphasizes skin color, race and cultural differences of fellow students.” The story of Ruby Bridges is one of the lessons that would be taught. The woman referred to it as “negative imaging for the students.”

I couldn’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want children to learn about Ruby. She had inspired me, and everyone deserves a chance to know about her and study that experience and our shared history.

It has been said that if you don’t know your history, you’ll be doomed to repeat it. I might only be a junior in high school, but I know how important it is to know the truth, whether from a loss that was suffered or the hard-earned victories worth celebrating. Even as a 6-year-old, I could understand.

It is our responsibility to learn both the good and bad. Adults need to trust the younger generations to be able to process and learn from our history, but we can’t if we aren’t exposed to it and learn to think about it. Finding the truth is the only thing of value. Why are people so afraid of facing the veracity of our history?

Instead of worrying about the ugly side of our history and the impact teaching it might have on younger minds, maybe we should be curious about the ramifications if we don’t.

Camri Clawson is a junior at Peninsula High School.