Thread by @PaulRogers73

[Thread] Today, I saw that Ruby Bridges was trending. I learned she was a 6-year-old girl who became the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in New Orleans in the American south.

She had to be escorted by four armed US marshals every day, as crowds shouted the N-word at her and waved Confederate flags. One white woman held up a coffin with a black doll in it. She was a 6-year-old child.

Young Ruby developed an eating disorder and would only eat pre-packaged foods as white parents, angry she was attending the school, threatened to poison her.

All of the children in her class were withdrawn by parents who refused to let their kids sit with a black girl.

Even the teachers abandoned the school or refused to teach her.

Except one female teacher.

For the entire year, she was taught in an empty class with only her and one teacher.

That teacher was Barbara Henry, who is still alive and now lives near me in Boston.

Here they are pictured together in 1998.

The photo of Ruby being escorted to school inspired American artist Norman Rockwell to create the painting ‘The Problem We All Must Live With,’ which graced the cover of Look magazine in 1964.

Today, Ruby is 65.

She’s younger than my mum.

If anyone is deserving of a statue, it’s Ruby.

Saying #BlackLivesMatter isn’t a political statement.

It’s human decency.

I’ve since found out that Disney made a film about Ruby Bridges - available on Disney+ & Youtube.

Incredible courage. A real hero.

To get an idea of just how recent this all is, Ruby Bridges - that frightened six-year-old girl being escorted into school by armed guards in the first tweet of this thread - is on Instagram.

instagram.com/rubybridgesoff…