As Ruby Bridges prepared to address a packed Rockefeller Chapel on Jan. 29, black-and-white footage of angry white mobs began to play. The images showed the six-year-old Bridges being escorted by U.S. marshals after single-handedly integrating William Frantz Elementary School more than 60 years ago.
University of Chicago Assoc. Prof. Rashauna Johnson began a fireside chat with Bridges by pointing out that people often struggle to square the vibrant, youthful civil rights icon with those hate-filled images.
“It speaks to the fact that we think that this happened such a long, long time ago,” said Bridges, who was the first Black student to integrate alone an all-white New Orleans public school in 1960. “And seeing me is a reminder that it wasn’t that long ago.
The author and activist took part in a wide-ranging discussion at UChicago’s 35th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Celebration—a conversation in which she reflected on her early memories but also how today’s youth must be protected against the “grown-up disease” of racism.