\u201cThe difference between Ruby Bridges and other civil rights icons is that she entered the history books when she entered the first grade,\u201d said Michael Roediger, executive director of the \u201cDAI\u201d Dayton Art Institute, in his introduction.<\/p>\n
The 57-year-old Ruby Bridges spoke softly in front of a sold-out lecture hall at the DAI on Jan 19. Bridges was brought to Dayton by the DAI, the Sinclair Visiting Scholars program and the DP&L Foundation.<\/p>\n
Bridge\u2019s talk was planned to accompany the ongoing Norman Rockwell exhibit at the DAI, which includes his famous painting of Bridge\u2019s history-making walk into the elementary school, The problem we all live with<\/em>. The collection also includes 42 of Rockwell\u2019s paintings and the full collection of Rockwell\u2019s 323 Saturday Evening Post covers.<\/p>\n Bridges began her talk with a video of the chanting mobs that gathered outside William Frantz Elementary School the day she became the first black student to attend an integrated school in New Orleans.<\/p>\n Bridges described the efforts to integrate New Orleans\u2019 schools, which was spearheaded by the NAACP. Bridges said her parents were not activists, but when they were told that going to the newer integrated school would give their child a better education, \u201cthat\u2019s all they needed to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n Although 137 families agreed to work with the NAACP to integrate the schools, ultimately only three students were assigned to one school, and the other three to Frantz. Before the first day, the two students who would have accompanied Bridges dropped out, leaving her alone.<\/p>\n Bridges had already completed kindergarten and part of the first-grade, and said she loved her all-black school.<\/p>\n \u201cI had absolutely no idea what was going on,\u201d said Bridges. \u201cMind you, I knew nothing, my parents never said anything to me.\u201d<\/p>\n In the absence of information, Bridges remembers using her imagination to explain the switch of schools and the crowds. She said she thought she had been sent straight to college for performing so well, and that she was in a parade.<\/p>\n In reality, Bridges was passing through a crowd of angry anti-integration protesters and needed a unit of federal marshals for her protection.<\/p>\n Bridges spent most of her first year at the school alone, taught by a single teacher, Barbara Henry from Boston. \u201cShe was the nicest teacher I\u2019ve ever had, she was like another mom to me,\u201d Bridges said.<\/p>\n The school itself was much newer and nicer than the one she left behind. As she studied, she could hear the shouting crowds outside.<\/p>\n Only a handful of parents continued to send their children to school while Bridges was there, and they also endured abuse from the community. It was not until one of her few white classmates told her \u201cmy mom said not to play with you,\u201d that the 6-year-old Bridges realized that all the commotion was about her.<\/p>\n Bridges attended the same school until the sixth-grade. She said that the next year, it was as if \u201cit never happened.\u201d The class of 25 students returned to school, including a handful of other black children.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you think about times back then, it was truly different,\u201d said Bridges. \u201cWe definitely have made progress.\u201d<\/p>\n Although she is optimistic about the country\u2019s progress, Bridges also spoke about some more negative trends today.<\/p>\n \u201cMy neighbors walked me to school everyday,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s missing in so many communities today, we don\u2019t care about each other\u2019s children any more, and we need to care.\u201d<\/p>\n She spoke about the loss of her oldest son, who was \u201cmurdered by someone who looks exactly like him,\u201d and said \u201cwe must come together for our children \u2014 if you are about what is good, then I want you on my team.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we need to be concerned about today is good and evil, and those come in all different shades and colors,\u201d said Bridges.<\/p>\n Although the Bridges talk was a one-time event, the Norman Rockwell exhibit will be at the DAI with special expanded hours until Feb 5.<\/p>\n Rockwell\u2019s famous painting, The problem we all live with<\/em>, came to Dayton directly from the walls of the White House. Bridges said she first saw the painting when she was 17, \u201cI remember thinking that this was an event that was really important. I think that it helped me know now what my purpose was in life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cThe difference between Ruby Bridges and other civil rights icons is that she entered the history books when she entered the first grade,\u201d said Michael Roediger, executive director of the \u201cDAI\u201d Dayton Art Institute, in his introduction. The 57-year-old Ruby Bridges spoke softly in front of a sold-out lecture hall at the DAI on Jan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tartan-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-1Rs","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7159,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7158\/revisions\/7159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}