Ruby Bridges

Ruby Bridges finished at William Frantz and went to an integrated high school. For fifteen years she worked as a travel agent in New Orleans. She married Malcolm Hall, and they have four sons. In the early 1990s she became a volunteer at the William Frantz Elementary School, helping the students there. The picture book The Story of Ruby Bridges was published in 1995, and Ruby began giving speeches around the country. Contact the Ruby Bridges Foundation for more information, or explore these books:

• Bridges, Ruby. Ruby Bridges Goes to School: My True Story (Scholastic, 2003). Illustrations include black and white photographs and the Norman Rockwell painting "The Problem We All Live With."
• Bridges, Ruby. Through My Eyes (Scholastic Press, 1999). Contains contemporary newspaper articles, many photographs, and comments from Ruby, Mrs. Henry, Ruby's mother, and others. Good for older children and adults who want to learn more.
• Coles, Robert. The Story of Ruby Bridges (Scholastic Inc. 1995). Large enough to share in a story-telling circle.
• "Interview with Ruby Bridges" on Newshour (PBS, 1997); get the transcript online.
• "Ruby's Shoes," a song by Lori McKenna, can be heard online.
• Ruby Bridges, 1998 Disney movie. Contains depictions of harassment and name-calling as Ruby goes to school.

Picture Books on Social Action

• Somewhere Today: A Book of Peace by Shelley Moore Thomas (Morton Grove, Illinois: Albert Whitman, 1998)
• The Other Side, by Jacqueline Woodson (New York, Putnam, 2001).