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In the following days, whenever Ruby Bridges entered the school, white parents pulled their own children out; all the teachers except for one refused to teach while a black child was enrolled. Only one person agreed to teach Bridges and that was Barbara Henry, from Boston, Massachusetts, and for over a year Henry taught her alone, "as if she were teaching a whole class."

https://jtojhumanrights.org.uk/ruby-bridges-barbara-henry/
Credit: AP/Shutterstock
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There were protests, boycotts, threats and chaos at the school. After a few days, white parents began bringing their children to school. Ruby Bridges remained the only child in her class, as she would until the following year.

Every morning, as Bridges walked to school, one woman would threaten to poison her, while another held up a black baby doll in a coffin; because of this, the U.S. Marshals allowed Bridges to eat only the food that she brought from home.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Bridges
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Ruby Bridges visited the White House on July 15, 2011 to see the Norman Rockwell painting that was on display outside the Oval Office in summer that year. President Obama told her, "I think it's fair to say that if it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't be here today.”

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/07/15/president-obama-meets-civil-rights-icon-ruby-bridges
Photo by Pete Souza
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Video of Ruby Bridges visit to the Obama White House on July 15, 2011.

Bridges, now Ruby Bridges Hall, still lives in New Orleans with her husband, Malcolm Hall, and their four sons.

Ruby has been a civil rights activist and she is chair of the Ruby Bridges Foundation, which she formed in 1999 to promote "the values of tolerance, respect, and appreciation of all difference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCsJ-24MdZc
https://rubybridges.foundation/
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It is important to remember the brave souls of history like Ruby Bridges, who fought the dark forces of their times so that we may lead a better life today.

If they could do it in those dark days with such few resources against such overwhelming odds, we can certainly do better. So, let's steel ourselves for the task ahead of us. As someone famously said, failure is not an option.

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@AkaSci Such Grace and bravery. Breaks my heart to think of any child hearing all that hate but I know to many still do.

@felixibrahim @AkaSci

Nein. Die Begründung des Friedensnobelpreises für Obama war: "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." - und das als er noch kein ganzes Jahr Präsident war, das kann man durchaus kritisch sehen.

Stellvertretend für die Bürgerrechtsbewegung war der Friedensnobelpreis für Martin Luther King 1964: "for his non-violent struggle for civil rights for the Afro-American population."

Ceterum censeo afdem esse damnandum

@ErikML @AkaSci Dann habe ich das zu ungenau aufgefasst. Ich fand es damals wie sehr viele Menschen auf allen Kontinenten einfach sensationell, dass der brillante Sohn eines Afrikaners amerikanischer Präsident werden konnte. Es ging eine richtige Euphorie um die Welt, im Gegensatz zur heutigen Verzweiflung.

@felixibrahim @AkaSci

Ja, die damalige Euphorie wünscht man sich ein bisschen zurück - das waren aber auch noch Zeiten, in denen wir geglaubt haben George W. Bush jr. wäre der schlimmste vorstellbare Präsident der USA gewesen - was waren wir alle naiv...

Ceterum censeo afdem esse damnandum