Civil Rights Icon Visits Lincoln and Edgewood Schools

Students at and Schools were paid a visit last Thursday by one of the most important historical figures of the Civil Rights era. 

Ruby Bridges was just six-years-old and in first grade when she became the first black student to attend an all-white elementary school in New Orleans after court-ordered desegregation.  On May 12, the 57-year-old recounted for Lincoln and Edgewood students her experiences of what it was like to be escorted by federal marshals through crowds of angry demonstrators to attend school. 

 At both Lincoln and Edgewood, Bridges presented a powerful message of tolerance and not judging people by what they look like, and the students sat captivated during her two-hour talk. For the month prior to her visit, both schools incorporated lessons about her and about that time in our country’s history, and the students were well-prepared for the visit and particularly reflective afterwards. 

“It was an honor to have her here and to hear her story,” said Daniel Kravitz,  a Lincoln student in teacher Steve Bartel’s fifth-grade class. He added that he thinks hearing her in person will enable him to pass on her story when he is an adult, to help make sure that history doesn’t repeat itself.

Several students in Bartel’s class said they also took away a message that it’s important to stand up for what you believe in. 

“The people kept on fighting and they talked to the president and went to the Supreme Court,” said Charlie Levine-Wolf.  Added Gracie Libman, “I learned that if you believe in something, then anything is possible.”

During the visits, which were funded by the Lincoln and Edgewood school PTOs, Bridges showed photographs of the crowds of demonstrators and talked about what it was like as a six-year-old to face that.  One of the students asked her if she was afraid, and she said most of the time she wasn’t, with the exception of one instance: when some demonstrators carried a coffin with a black baby doll inside. 

“That coffin gave me nightmares,” she said. 

But, Bridges added, she really liked school, and had a wonderful first-grade teacher. 

“I knew that if I could get through the crowds it would be a good day at school.” 

It was a lonely year. Her classroom had just a handful of other students, all white, whose parents over the course of the school year withdrew them one by one because of the harassment they suffered from others in the community.

Bridges told the students that she hopes the message they take away from her story is that in their own lives, that they always give people a chance, no matter what they look like. 

“The most important thing is that someone is being a good friend to you and that you are being a good friend to them.  Always give each other a chance.  I hope you remember that,” she said.