Meet Ruby Hall. At 6 years old, she was the first Black child to attend an all-White elementary school in the south, William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana on 14 November 1960. This is her story. Thread. #BlackLivesMatter 
For her to attend school her first day, men with guns had to make way through a crowd of grown men and women screaming “nigger”, threatening her life and waving confederate flags.
Nearly all the teachers abandoned the school except for one. In her classroom, all her classmates abandoned the class refusing to sit with the 6 yr old.
For the entire school year, Ruby went to school to a classroom that was just her and the one teacher that didn't refuse her.
She refused to eat any food that wasn’t pre-packaged and sealed because White protestors frequently threatened to poison her like a rat.
Today, Bridges, now Ruby Bridges Hall, still lives in New Orleans with her husband, Malcolm Hall, and their four sons. After graduating from a desegregated high school, she worked as a travel agent for 15 years and later became a full-time parent.
She is now chair of the Ruby Bridges Foundation which she formed in 1999 to promote "the values of tolerance, respect, & appreciation of all differences". Describing the mission of the group, she says, "racism is a grown-up disease & we must stop using our children to spread it."
She only turns 66 in September 8th this year. #BlackGirlMagic
@threadreaderapp unroll
