It was recently the 56th anniversary of when Ruby Bridges became the first black student to attend an all-white elementary school. 6th graders heard the true story about how a judge ordered a school in New Orleans to follow the nation's law and allow black children to attend white schools. Ruby's parents were very proud that their daughter was one of the four girls chosen to break the color barrier at two different schools, with three girls going to one school and Ruby in the other. The Bridges were hard working and very religious, and prayed to God that Ruby "would be a good girl and she'd hold her head up high and be a credit to her own people and a credit to all the American people." And she certainly did.
Ruby had to tolerate crowds of angry white people gathered outside the Frantz Elementary School, carrying signs and threatening violence to her if she continued to attend. The police did not help Ruby, so the President of the United States ordered federal marshals to walk with Ruby into the school. None of the parents of the white children would allow their children to attend if Ruby was going to be there, so Ruby attended school for months all by herself. She had to endure the crowd of people every day, but continued to come to school and work hard. One day, Ruby's teacher was looking out the window and saw Ruby's lips moving while she was in the middle of the angry mob. When she asked Ruby what she was saying to the crowd of people, Ruby explained that she wasn't talking to them, that she was praying for them. She usually said this prayer before she reached the mob, but she forgot that day so she stopped in the middle of them and prayed for these people who hated her. According to the book, this is the prayer she repeated twice a day, before and after school:
"Please, God, try to forgive those people.
Because even if they say those bad things,
They don't know what they're doing.
So You could forgive them,
Just like You did those folks a long time ago
When they said terrible things about You."
What an amazing and important true story of courage and forgiveness.
We then watched this clip of Ruby visiting with President Obama in the White House. President Obama tells Ruby that if not for her and what she did all those years ago, he most likely would not be standing in the White House today.
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