Walking with courage

Today is Ruby Bridges Day, the sixty-fifth anniversary of Ruby Bridges' first walk to her new school, William Frantz Elementary School, in New Orleans.
 
She was six years old, escorted by law enforcement through a jeering crowd who wanted to keep the school segregated. It was a historic walk, later commemorated by Norman Rockwell in The Problem We All Live With.

Ask a student from Ms. Williams’ second grade about it.

 

This second grade class is recognizing the day by taking the long route when they go to PE, library, music, lunch and recess.

They are reflecting on bravery along the way.

These students all know the feeling of being the new kid.

They remember times they weren’t sure if they were safe.

They’ve been places where they were afraid they didn’t belong.

They’ve had adults encourage them to be brave, even at times when they were frightened.

Ms. Williams knows that.

She also knows that those experiences can be easier to talk about when you’re outside in the fresh air and moving your body.

 

In eighth grade, these students will walk across Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge, retracing the path of the unarmed marchers who, in 1965, stepped straight into a confrontation with police bearing clubs and tear gas.

A few months later, they will march across Gordon’s Commencement stage and graduate with a mission of changing the world.

They’ll know how to be walk bravely even when they don’t feel brave.

It’s a skill they will have practiced for many years.

More about Gordon’s eighth grade Civil Rights Trip at www.gordonschool.org/civilrights

 

above: in 2003, a grown-up Ruby Bridges visited Gordon and shared her story with the school, making time to be interviewed by then-fourth-graders Janie Lupica '07, Dove Dario '07, Dylan Neel '07, Tiernan Barry '07 and Izzy Ingendahl '07.