VUS.13a.9

Interview with Ruby Bridges Hall (1997)
(Corporation for Public Broadcasting: "PBS Online Newshour: "A Class of One")


Description
In 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges became the first African American child to integrate a Southern elementary school, walking into William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans between four U.S. federal marshalls. This resource consists of an interview with her conducted by PBS News anchor Charlayne Hunter-Gault. Ruby - now Mrs. Hall - vividly recalls her memories of the first day she entered her new school. She thought she must be very early because there were no other students in the room. She didn't know that white parents had protested her admittance by withdrawing their children from the first-grade classroom. Her first year at Franz Elementary she was in "a class of one" because white parents continued to picket the public school in this manner. This resource contains some moving moments and offers a rare glimpse into the mind of a young black child dealing with the troubled racial climate of the early 1960s. It should prove a productive starting point for class discussions of segregation, as well as the impact of racial prejudice on young children, and the quiet strength and determination of the black families who fought on the front lines of educational desegregation.
Teaching Tips

"Do Now" Suggestions

  1. In preparation for reading the interview and completing the Four Thought Organizer (described in the Activity section), the teacher can show students the Norman Rockwell painting "The Problem We All Live With" (located in the interview transcript). Students can write down their "Prereading Associations" (the first part of the Four Thought Organizer) with the painting.

Suggestions for Using this Resource as Part of a Lesson

  1. This interview offers a personal glimpse into the experience of one African-American students as she attempted to attend a newly desegregated school. Because Mrs. Hall's words are so moving, the students might benefit by sorting their thoughts and reactions to the interview into a Four Thought Organizer: